HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



almost as we stepped on to the dry ground we lay down 

 thoroughly worn out, bleeding from head to foot. My 

 hands were terribly lacerated by the coarse, sharp 

 grass, and broken thorns were left in the flesh all over 

 my body. 



I was greatly worried when the headman Salem came 

 to me and said that four of the carriers had not yet 

 emerged from the swamp, and although the boys yelled 

 and shouted, no response came from the path behind. 

 It soon became too dark for us to see any distance. Those 

 who had last seen them stated that they had stayed 

 behind on the clump of bush in the swamp. Again and 

 again the boys shouted, but still there was no response. 

 1 was greatly afraid that unless they reached camp before 

 long something serious would befall them. The mosquitoes 

 would be intolerable so long as we stayed at the foot 

 of the slope, so after a few minutes rest I sent a party 

 of the carriers to select a good site on the top of the 

 plateau, from which our camp fire would be visible for 

 miles by any one following in the track by which we had 

 come. The slopes of the rise were covered with trees, 

 until near the top, where they gave place to a stretch of 

 short grass country that dipped again towards the west. 

 Of course, the loads carried by the missing boys proved 

 to be the tent, a case of champagne, the medicine chest, 

 bath, chair, and bed, so I looked like having a lively 

 night. Fortunately, the mosquito net and my kit bag 

 were with us, as well as the cooking-pots and a scanty 

 supply of food. It had been a hard day for all of us, but 

 after twenty minutes' rest we were busy getting up an 

 apology for a grass house wherein I could sleep for the 

 night. Meanwhile, a fire had been lit and burned brightly, 

 showing itself to the country for miles around. I next 

 proceeded to cut down the tree that Syce had climbed 

 up, fixing ropes round the upper half of the trunk, with 

 a bunch of boys on the ropes, so that the tree might be 



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