CHAP, viii DULL SPORT 



139 



A few hours later I was in Njemps, listening to the head 

 Askari's tale of troubles in Elgeyo, and trying to calm the 

 complaints of the ten porters who had come back with him, 

 and who for two days had not had a morsel of food. There 

 was nothing for it but to make an effort to appease their 

 hunger. I gave one of them my rifle and gun to carry, crossed 

 the Nyuki, waded for nearly an hour through the swamps, and 

 scoured the plain beyond in search of game. The bones of 

 buffaloes lay rotting on the ground, but the work of the plague ^ 

 had been only too complete ; there was not a beast to be seen, 

 and I returned to the camp with only a few brace of guinea- 

 fowl and some wild duck. This was better than nothing, but it 

 soon disappeared before twenty-five hungry men. So I turned 

 into bed, after fixing up a stick and telling the men to wake 

 me when the Southern Cross came in the line of sight with it. 

 Alas ! when the sentry called me I was too weak to stand. For 

 the flesh diet and the malaria of the swamps, possibly aided 

 by overworry and overwork, had brought back my old foe — 

 malarial dysentery. 



On the following day I was better. I went off to shoot, but 

 soon broke down and had to be carried back to camp. Fortun- 

 ately one of the traders, the Beluchi named Jumma, was a good 

 shot and a keen sportsman, and he offered to make good use 

 of half a dozen cartridges. He kept his word, and soon sent 

 back for men to carry in a " Swara mdogo," as the Suahili call 

 the bush-buck {TragelapJius sp.) Later on he got a zebra, but 

 this was shot so far from camp that the porters sent for the 

 meat could not reach the place until dark. This involved the 

 loss of the food, for the porter who had been left on guard 

 would not stay out alone after sunset ; the men could not find 

 the place, but the lions did, and during the night they devoured 

 the carcase. Next day I was better, and went off in one 

 direction, while the Beluchi started in another. We bagged a 

 couple of zebra, and on the way back, by a most fluky shot, 

 I bowled over a fine female water-buck {Kobus ellipsypryvinus). 

 Next day we were still more fortunate, for though game was 

 really scarce we killed two zebra and three mpalla {Aipyceros 

 melampus). In the afternoon we tracked a lion to its lair ; but 

 after an interesting stalk through dense scrub he bolted, just as 



^ See p. 266. 



