THE MAN HUNTERS 



" ^ "^ ^ "y y 



Anxious lest I should get hurt, four of my men had 

 taken upon themselves to follow me at a distance, and 

 as we were slackening our pace these men came up to 

 me and at once suggested that it was high time to give 

 up the chase and return to camp. In the circumstances 

 it seemed foolish to continue the pursuit, but I would 

 not listen to them, for I was determined to get the 

 buflfalo. 



We had now come to a small opening made by a wind- 

 felled tree, and here we sat down to rest for a few min- 

 utes, all the time with ears strained for any sound of 

 breaking twigs which might indicate the whereabouts of 

 the buffalo. Just then a little bird burst into song. It 

 seemed to me that he was singing "Embali kidogo, Em- 

 bali kidogo" (a little farther on, a little farther on) . 

 Turning to my followers I whispered, "Do you hear 

 what the little bird says? Embali kidogo, Embali kidogo. 

 Shall we continue or return?" 



These good fellows just looked hard at each other and, 

 after a slight pause, by general consent decided to con- 

 tinue the chase. Once more we pushed on along the same 

 old trail, with the sun all the time getting hotter and 

 hotter. 



Another hour passed and although I felt that we must 

 now be very close to our prey my followers again began 

 to talk of camp, one of them reminding me that we were 

 travelling all the time in the opposite direction. For the 

 second time we sat down to rest, and I quietly told them 

 that whatever happened, for my part I was determined 



65 



