HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



one of these fellows carrying made a report something 

 akin to the noise created by a fifteen-pounder field gun. 

 Should the bird aimed at fall to the ground, you can 

 be assured that the concussion alone has rendered it 

 senseless for the time being. Probably it does fall, but 

 not from the effects of the bullet ! The best plan s 

 the boys say) is to run up and capture the prize before it 

 recovers from the shock and flies away ! This, however, 

 is not always possible, for the " gunner " is generally 

 enveloped in an immense cloud of blue smoke for fully 

 half a minute, and judging by the way he rubs his 

 shoulder, it is evident that the experiment would be 

 repeated only in case of dire necessity. The mail bag 

 continues the journey on the boy's head, who like his 

 escort wears an old Post-office uniform that looks as if it 

 has seen service since the days of Rowland Hill. On 

 they go, now walking, occasionally breaking into a trot. 

 A swollen river is reached, the Government has placed 

 canoes here, but perhaps the natives from the Congo 

 side of the Nile have been across on one of their periodical 

 raids, causing the local people temporarily to fly up the 

 river. The mail has to reach Nimule on a certain date. 

 Cautiously the boys try the depth and find that it 

 reaches up to the shoulders, but the river is subsiding 

 and the strength of the current is not very great, they 

 return for the mail bag and gun which they have left on 

 the bank and walk into the river. Often there is a great 

 stillness over the country, the tall grass lining the opposite 

 bank rustles in the breeze. There are innumerable dangers 

 besetting them, not the least of which are the crocodiles 

 that abound in the rivers. Possibly the visiting marau- 

 ders from the Lado lie hidden in the long dry grass with 

 bow-string taut waiting for the unwary traveller. Once 

 on the bank they plunge into the semi-darkness caused 

 by the tall grass overhanging the path, reaching perhaps 

 twenty-five feet high. Fifty vards ahead a stretch of 



5~6 ' 



