212 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
craft and dived in. Never having previously thought of any pos- 
sible danger, I cannot explain why I suspected the presence of a 
crocodile the moment I hit the water. On rising I looked around 
and to my horror saw the eyes of one on the same level as my own 
and less than twenty yards away, and the brute was moving 
rapidly towards me. I shot out of the water like a leaping tarpon 
and gained the top of the bank before looking round, and there 
the croc was only a few yards from the canoe with just the top 
of his head above water. Snatching my clothes I retired to a safe 
distance, resolved never to go bathing again in the River Pru. 
Crocodiles have endless patience and this fellow hung around 
for weeks, guided no doubt by some instinct that told him that 
sooner or later someone would enter the water at the same spot. 
The wisdom of engaging boys from different tribes became evi- 
dent as time went on at our riverside camp. The novelty of living 
miles away from their home towns had worn off and a certain 
amount of friction had arisen between Moses and Lucas the cook. 
The latter, being a Hausa, was now among his own people and we 
suspected that he had started a racket, especially as our tins of 
milk, flour, and sugar were disappearing at an alarming rate. We 
called Moses and accused him of stealing our provisions, realizing 
full well that Lucas was probably the culprit. Moses became very 
heated and took advantage of the opportunity to split on one not 
of his own tribe. “Massa,” he said, “Lucas ’e done go cook cake for 
woman.” Apparently he had been supplying the said woman from 
the village, and her various relations, for weeks past with luxuries 
from our limited supplies. 
We then put Lucas on the mat and he accused Moses of stealing 
all kinds of stores, from cutlery to clothing. Finally we had them 
both in front of us together, and the ensuing tirades hurled at 
each other in pidgin English were so laughable that for the mo- 
ment we forgot all about the pilfering. After making accusations 
against each other concerning incidents dating back almost to the 
day they were employed, they became so heated that we had to 
part them. After all the hot air had blown over, they resumed 
normal working relations, but to teach them a lesson we made an 
estimate of our losses and docked the amount off their wages—an 
action which they accepted philosophically. 
