A NARROW ESCAPE 9 



ping back into the tent, S. slipped into his 

 shoes, buckled on his cartridge-belt, and, picking 

 up his rifle, ordered the men to put out the fires, 

 which they did by throwing dirt on them. The 

 camp was dark. 



He was standing before the tent talking with 

 the men, when without the slightest warning the 

 flashes of several guns burst through the grass 

 fence. At the same time a shower of spears fell 

 into the stockade and some must have struck 

 the porters. 



A moment later the savages broke through 

 the enclosure and, howling like demons, rushed 

 upon the party. They outnumbered the white 

 men ten to one, and it would have been mad- 

 ness to attempt to resist them. S. shouted to 

 his boys to flee for their lives and, turning ran 

 toward the back of the "kraal." 



On reaching it he broke through and started 

 for a thicket. Suddenly he tripped and fell 

 and two men stumbled over him. They might 

 have been some of his own party escaping, but 

 if they were savages they must have thought 

 that he had fallen from a wound, so they kept 

 on after other victims. 



The hunter scrambled to his feet, still clinging 



