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and a gangway open, both until the last possible moment, and for 

 an extra hand to stand by to help my wife when necessary. She 

 would remain in her cabin so as to be immediately available for 

 the telephone. One or two items were needed from packages in 

 the hold and baggage room — could they come up soon? I gave 

 him a short list of food required: cheese, dried figs, biscuits, 

 and Brazil nuts, so much of each. He glanced at it and said it 

 would be prepared at once. When agitated or in action, Smythe 

 has a way of flicking his fingers, which is symbolical of the speed 

 with which he can act in any emergency. All I wanted was done 

 with dispatch, and on his own he had a special breakfast prepared 

 for me which I ate in his cabin soon after. Ours looked like a 

 Customs baggage examination warehouse. 



After he left, my wife and I went through the detailed list of 

 my needs : one light suit and a nylon shirt, that I was wearing then. 

 Two khaki shirts, two shorts, compact shaving kit, pyjama shorts, 

 a towel, soap, folding primus, a small aluminium pot, an alumin- 

 ium water-bottle, six boxes of matches, each in a waterproof bag, 

 a torch, light plastic overcoat, nylon head-net, all in a small 

 waterproof case. Camera (my wonderful Rolleiflex), exposure 

 meter and spare films, Nescafe, sugar, slabs of chocolate, plastic 

 cups, my special silver spoon, two knives, and though I do not 

 smoke, several hundred cigarettes, of course, for without those I 

 never travel in wild parts. They are a wonderful open sesame to 

 primitive hearts. Then last but not least my trusty collecting-box. 

 This is quite a famous box, my inseparable companion on tens 

 of thousands of miles of tropical journeys, by land, sea, and air. 

 It is a neat teak box 18x12x15 inches high, and it has many 

 compartments and trays with divisions. Its contents are the 

 result of years of experience, and cover a wide range, from almost 

 a full medical outfit to tools, spare parts for pressure stoves and 

 lamps, fishing tackle; there are hundreds of items. Some of them 

 have interesting backgrounds. A tube of rubber solution ! We 

 once went on a trip from a tiny isolated coastal settlement in 

 northern Mozambique to the Lurio mouth, about fifty miles of 

 the loneliest track in Africa and through an area alive with wild 

 animals. Lurio lions are notorious. The country there just swarms 

 with them. You can follow the road all right, especially through 

 swamps, for it is made of logs ; but you can pass only in the dry 



