HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



cheery, genial ways greatly. I think I was one of the last 

 white men to see him alive, for when coming down from 

 the Congo last December I met him just between Wadelai 

 and Koba setting out on what proved to be his last trip. 

 Truly the life of the elephant hunter is one of the most 

 perilous callings a man can take to. How strange it 

 seemed after those weeks and weeks without having 

 spoken in one's own language suddenly to hear a cheery 

 voice greet you with the familiar " Hallo." For a moment 

 when Longdon came forward, I found that I had almost 

 forgotten the command of my native tongue. That 

 evening, over a huge log fire that crackled and spurted 

 away under the starry heavens, we sat and talked of 

 everything imaginable. Longdon had heard from the 

 Commissioner that I was expected, for the telephone 

 wire from Wadelai being in working order, the boy 

 at the Post-house had advised Koba of my departure 

 from there, and that was how Longdon knew my name. 

 One morning a messenger came down from the Post- 

 office with a telegram from P , who was still at 



Nimule, for I had inquired for him by wire on my arrival 

 in Koba. The wire was to the effect that we should meet 

 at Osso and Nile Junctions on the west bank of the Nile, 

 just below Dufile, and start from there for the interior. 

 One afternoon Mr. J. T. Manly, a well-known rubber 

 prospector, and I were sitting in my tent sheltering from 

 a very heavy storm, accompanied by a fierce gale of wind. 

 We were chatting away when suddenly a terrific gust 

 laid the tent flat ; we were pinned down to the ground 

 by the heavy wet canvas. The wind had torn the pegs 

 right out of the ground, in spite of their being some two 

 feet in length and driven in to within a few inches of the 

 top. The boys came to our rescue, and between us we 

 managed to cover up my belongings, guns, boxes, and so 

 forth. There was nothing for it but to get the boys to 

 sit on the wreckage to prevent everything being blown 



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