CHAPTER XXVI 



NDOVA FALLS SICK— STUNG BY A SCORPION OR BITTEN 

 BY A CENTIPEDE — REFUSES TO EAT — GROWS WEAKER 

 IN SPITE OF ALL OUR CARE AND NURSING— ONE 

 MORNING I FIND HIM DEAD — WE MAKE A COFFIN 

 FOR HIM AND BURY HIM IN THE FOREST 



THE following morning, to my astonishment and 

 no small consternation, Ndova was ill, and 

 refused to eat the berries and nuts given to him, of 

 which ordinarily he was very fond. He looked at 

 them, but would not even take them in his hands. 

 His body was hot, and it was evident that he had 

 a high fever. His heart beat very fast. It was 

 very strange, I thought ; he had been so well the 

 evening before. 



I said to Rogala : " I wonder if Ndova could have 

 been stung by a scorpion or a centipede during the 

 night, or perhaps a small poisonous snake entered his 

 house and bit him when he tried to play with it." 



" No," said Rogala, " monkeys are like peo- 

 ple ; they are afraid of snakes and do not play 

 with them." 



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