With Flashlight and Rifle ^ 



At a distance of some miles from the camp 1 found 

 a large pond in the bed of a dried-up river. Put upon 

 the alert by seeing a vociferous sea-eagle [Ha/iaefus 

 vocifcr\ I found in the pool great quantities of fish, which 

 were doomed to destruction by the unexpectedly quick 

 drying up of the stream. They had left it at spawning- 

 time, and been cut off My men took over three hundred 

 kilos of much-needed fish this day, and the news of 

 their big haul gave much joy in the canip. 



By this pond a pair of Egyptian geese had hatched 

 their eg-o-s. The voune birds that still lived were about 

 three weeks old ; others had been swallowed by two small 

 crocodiles, which were caught by my men when they 

 were drawing in the fish. In one of these crocodiles, 

 only about a yard in length, one of the goslings was 

 found almost w^hole and entire ! 



Next day I was to come near meeting the same 

 fate as this young gosling. Crossing the river in a fragile 

 boat, two blacks and I got entangled in a thicket, lost an 

 oar, and with it all control of our course. Next mcjment 

 we were being swept along as swift as an arrow by the 

 current in mid-stream. 



Below was a deep, quiet i)Oo], in which a great 

 nuniljer (jf Ijig crocodiles la\- in wait tor their prey. 

 Fortunately our boat came suddenly upon a rock and 

 capsized. We owed our salvation to tlie fact that both 

 mv men and nnself were accustomed to the water, and 

 that we wen- all of tall stature. This enabled us, 

 standing upon the rocks in the water, to hold on to the 

 Li])lurned boat, without, however, l)eing able to move away, 



76 



