A NARROW ESCAPE 7 



at the camp, traded vegetables with the porters, 

 and seemed to be on the most friendly and so- 

 ciable terms. As the afternoon wore on they 

 began to disperse and by supper time not a per- 

 son was left; they had disappeared as though by 

 magic. They did not return in the evening, 

 either, which was most unusual, for an African 

 native is more nocturnal than he is diurnal. 

 While revolving the incidents of the day in his 

 mind, the white man remembered that there 

 were fewer women about the camp that after- 

 noon than there had been on the previous day, 

 which also looked suspicious. His porters, too, 

 seemed alarmed. They sat by their camp-fires 

 talking in undertones, and always carried their 

 spears or left them lying on the ground by their 

 sides, as though expecting an attack at any 

 moment. 



The anxious hunter went to his tent early 

 that evening, and as he lay on his cot he won- 

 dered if, after all, the chief were playing a 

 treacherous game and bestowing gifts simply to 

 allay suspicion. He was so uneasy that he re- 

 moved only his shoes and put his rifle and 

 cartridge-belt close at hand. 



Through the open tent front he watched his 



