THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 29 



decided I'd better keep that job. Talk about your 

 tuna fishing! I landed twenty big donkeys in two 

 hours ! 



Then we had lunch; and to us, out of the blue, came 

 Vanderweyer 's man, Dowdi, saying that his master's 

 donkeys and loads of sugar had been camped a mile or 

 so back for the past twenty-two days waiting for the 

 river to go do\^Ti so they could cross, and would we 

 cross them? Now, beside doing Vanderweyer a good 

 turn, we had counted on hiring some of these same 

 donkeys for a short time to help us on with our potio; 

 which obviously we could not do if the beasts were on 

 the wrong side of the river. Dowdi told us there were 

 twenty-five. So we took on the job. 



The men crossed the loads by cable while Cuning- 

 hame and I went to submarine donkey fishing again. 

 Muscularly it was hard work, but actually it was 

 rather fun, with a dash of uncertainty and no two alike. 

 After we had worked an hour or so and were just 

 getting down to the last of the bunch, more donkeys 

 appeared. Instead of twenty-five there proved to be 

 forty-seven. Wily Dowdi had lured us on! We got 

 quite expert. The moment the line was hauled back 

 by means of a cord, Cuninghame clapped on the hitch, 

 the donkey was unceremoniously dumped in, and I 

 hauled him across any side up he happened to be. We 

 had long since got over being tender of their feelings. 

 My men received him, yanked him to his feet, and 



