146 AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



done, I dropped it into the stream. Although 

 one cannot think of all these little details at 

 such a time, I always feel chagrined when I 

 recall the act. 



Once free, I rolled off Lazarus' s back into the 

 ice-cold water, that less than an hour before had 

 probably formed part of a glacier or a snow- 

 bank high up on Mount Kenia. I had scarcely 

 left the animal when he rolled completely over, 

 and one of his feet hit me as I drifted away. 



The left shore toward which I had floated, 

 was a perpendicular bank five feet high, and the 

 water that washed its sides was deep and run- 

 ning swiftly. 



The instant that I faced the current the spa- 

 cious pockets of my hunting-coat filled with 

 water and acted as a drag, so I turned and 

 tried to swim down-stream and toward the op- 

 posite side. The swift current carried me to- 

 ward the cut bank, however, and my coat floated 

 about my head and shoulders, retarding me 

 worse than before, so once more I wheeled 

 about and stemmed the stream. 



It was useless and wearing on my strength 

 to attempt to swim against the current; so I 

 devoted my energy to simply staying on the sur- 



