AFRICAN CAMP FIRES 



with loose round rocks; and in my continuous trips 

 for firewood I stumbled and slipped and ran into 

 thorns miserably.* 



After a long interval of this the lanterns came 

 bobbing through the darkness, and a few moments 

 later the dim light revealed the shining, rain-soaked 

 faces of our men. 



We wasted no time in the distributions of burdens. 

 Cuninghame with one of the lanterns brought up the 

 rear, while I with the other went on ahead. 



Now as Kongoni had but this minute completed 

 the round trip to camp we concluded that he would 

 be the best one to give us a lead. This was a mistake. 

 He took us out of the hills well enough, and a good 

 job that was, for we could not see the length of our 

 arms into the thick, rainy blackness, and we had to 

 go entirely by the slants of the country. But once in 

 the more open, sloping country, with its innumerable 

 bushy or wooded ravines, he began to stray. I felt 

 this from the first; but Kongoni insisted strongly he 

 was right, and in the rain and darkness we had no 

 way of proving him wrong. In fact I had no reason 

 for thinking him wrong, I only felt it. This sense 

 of direction is apparently a fifth wheel or extra 

 adjustment some people happen to possess. It has 



*Six months after I had reached home one of these thorns worked its way 

 out of the calf of my leg. 



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