XXVII BACK TO THE GUASO NYIRO 331 



the camels had gone, and who had taken them. As 

 we were In an exceedingly wild and uncivilised part 

 of the country, I feared that the Samburu had 

 attacked and captured them, and that the next thing 

 I might expect would be a midnight attack on our 

 camp. This made me most anxious on Mrs. R.'s 

 account. She, however, was full of pluck, and when 

 I mentioned to her that I might possibly have 

 to return to rescue the camels from the Samburu, 

 she seemed rather pleased than otherwise at 

 the prospect of a fight and did not appear to 

 realise the gravity of the situation, for which I was 

 thankful. 



I remained on the alert all night, and spent a very 

 anxious time straining my ears to catch any unusual 

 sound. About midnight, when the camp had settled 

 down into absolute quiet, without stir or noise of any 

 kind, we were suddenly startled by a terrific and 

 unearthly yelling and howling of a most uncanny 

 kind. Instantly the whole camp leaped to its feet 

 and everyone seized a weapon of some sort. On 

 investigation, we found that the alarm was created 

 by the weird howling of a pack of twenty or more 

 hysenas, who had come down close to our camp and, 

 evidently at the signal of a leader, howled together 

 in unison. This was repeated time after time, and 

 was probably meant either to frighten us away, or as 

 a reproach to us for having pitched our camp so 



