AFRICAN CAMP FIRES 



Therefore I took my compass bearing afresh, and 

 plunged into the scrub. The sensation was of 

 hitting solid ground after a long walk through sand. 

 We seemed fairly to shoot ahead and out of sight. 

 Whenever we came upon earth we marked it deeply 

 with our heels; we broke twigs downward, and laid 

 hastily snatched bunches of grass to help the trail 

 we were leaving for the others to follow. This, in 

 spite of our compass, was a very devious track. 

 Beside the thorn bushes were patches of spiky aloe, 

 coming into red flower, and the spears of sisal. 



After an hour's steady, swift walking the general 

 trend of the country began to slope downward. 

 This augured a watercourse between us and the 

 hills around Kilimanjaro. There could be no doubt 

 that we would cut it; the only question was whether 

 it, like so many desert watercourses, might not prove 

 empty. We pushed on the more rapidly. Then 

 we caught a glimpse, through a chance opening, of 

 the tops of trees below us. After another hour we 

 suddenly burst from the scrub to a strip of green 

 grass beyond which were the great trees, the palms, 

 and the festooned vines of a watercourse. Two bush 

 bucks plunged into the thicket as we approached; 

 and fifteen or twenty mongooses sat up as straight 

 and stiff as so many picket pins the better to see us. 



For a moment my heart sank. The low under- 



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