102 IN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKA ch. viii 



hill, and I sincerely hoped that we should find water 

 at the foot of it, as I feared that the safari would 

 be too exhausted to go on to the Tana, which was 

 still some miles further on. It was with no litde 

 anxiety, therefore, that we followed the guides to the 

 spring they had spoken of, which was called Muli- 

 lone. As we reached it I saw that our tired men 

 need not brace themselves for any further effort, as 

 the green marshy track showed plainly that water 

 was there. On tasting it we found it particularly 

 brackish, but none the less thought ourselves very 

 fortunate in not finding the spring dry. 



We did not rest even yet, for just as camp was 

 being pitched I saw a herd of about thirty eland 

 grazing away on the right at about 300 yards' 

 distance. We all set out at once and made a very 

 careful and most interesting stalk, dodging from 

 bush to tuft, and from tuft to bush, in our endeavours 

 to oet near a fine bull which we had noticed amono- 

 the herd. He was too well guarded, however, by 

 the females and youngsters to allow us to approach 

 within satisfactory shooting distance, and as the 

 light was by this time rapidly failing, we were com- 

 pelled to give up the stalk and return to camp. We 

 were not sorry to do this, as we had been on the 

 move ever since about 3 a.m., and it can well be 

 imagined how much we enjoyed our somewhat 

 spartan Christmas dinner after such .a long and 

 eventful day. 



