AFRICAN CAMP FIRES 



In the relief from the tension we all burst into 

 shrieks of laughter; all except the near-victim of 

 the scrimmage, who managed only a sickly smile. 

 Our mirth was short. Out from a thicket over a 

 hundred yards away walked one of the men who 

 had been in no way involved in the fight, calmly 

 announcing that he had been shot. We were skep- 

 tical, but he turned his back and showed us the 

 bullet hole at the lower edge of the ribs. One of 

 my bullets, after passing through the cheetah, had 

 ricocheted and picked this poor fellow out from the 

 whole of an empty landscape. And this after I had 

 delayed my rescue fairly to the point of danger in 

 order to avoid all chance of hurting some one! 



We had no means of telling how deeply the bullet 

 had penetrated; so we reassured the man, and de- 

 tailed two men to assist him back to camp by easy 

 stages. He did not seem to be suffering much pain, 

 and he had lost little strength. 



At camp, however, we found that the wound was 

 deep. Cuninghame generously offered to make a 

 forced march in order to get the boy out to a hos- 

 pital. By hitting directly across the rough country 

 below the benches it was possible to shorten the 

 journey somewhat, provided V. could persuade the 

 Masai to furnish a guide. The country was a desert, 

 and the water scarce. We lined up our remaining 



34 



