Homeward Bound 255 



ever, we contrived to throw a line to the poor fellows and 

 managed to draw them into shelter. Five men, alas ! were 

 not seen again. The Askari, three Wangilima and a man of 

 the Wabudu tribe had met with their fate. In addition, a 

 great many articles had been lost, amongst them Czeczatka's 

 service rifle and side-arms, his tent, cartridges, and a tin box 

 of writing materials. 



After having convinced ourselves that there was nothing 

 further to be done in the way of succouring the victims of the 

 accident, we prepared to continue our journey. Czeczatka was 

 given one of the other boats and I gave him two of my people 

 to help make up the gap in his crew. Another did the same. 

 Then the episode was over and forgotten ; the men started 

 chanting their melodious native canoe-songs once more as they 

 paddled tranquilly along the wide expanse of the river, their 

 voices echoing and re-echoing against the dense walls of foliage 

 on the banks. 



The singing ceased abruptly. " Tembo, bana " — " elephants, 

 master " — shouted the man in the bows as he turned round to 

 me. I jumped up and saw the enormous forms of five elephants 

 bulging out of the water, in which the colossal creatures were 

 standing about half -covered and besplashing themselves in lazy 

 serenity. I seized my rifle and my camera, uncertain what to 

 do. The paddles were dipped very gently, so that no noise 

 might betray our presence. The river was about 600 metres 

 broad at the spot. The approach of the boats appeared to 

 arouse a certain amount of uneasiness amongst the elephants, 

 which was evinced by the raising of their trunks and the flapping 

 of their ears. Creating a tremendous ripple in the stream, they 

 returned to the bank, where there was a young animal who 

 appeared to be in a very aggressive mood, and who was venting 

 his spleen on the boughs of the trees, whilst the others stepped 

 out of their bath and crashed into the forest. The youngster 

 raged around for a time trumpeting, and then, turning in circles 

 in the shallow water near the bank, sucked up the water in his 

 trunk and spurted it into the air. As no danger appeared to 



