HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



out and foot-sore, now lay snoring hard. Pishi and 

 Salem busied themselves making a couple of huge pots 

 of stew and porridge for the others. Many of the boys 

 were shaking violently, and not a few refused to touch 

 food at all. That night a terrific storm burst over us. 

 The hut was blown down, and, minus a roof, I sat up, 

 soaked to the skin from midnight until dawn, as did the 

 rest of the boys also. It was hard lines to have to sit 

 up all night after the experiences of the previous day. 

 Deafening peals of thunder rattled and burst overhead, 

 terrible flashes of lightning struck the ground close to 

 where we were. A terrific downpour accompanied all, 

 trees and grasses were torn about in the fury of the 

 storm, which, as the first grey streaks of dawn appeared, 

 abated somewhat abruptly. The tree tops and the 

 swamp below were roofed with a billowy sea of white 

 mist, that stretched away to the great silent waters of 

 the Nile in the east. Overhead, as the darkness of the 

 clouds rolled away to the west, where the angry storm 

 was lending its fury towards the deep, rushing waters 

 of the great Kibali, the great pall above fell slowly back 

 and revealed in contrast to the spectral mist around and 

 below us, the early morning sky still ablaze with leaping 

 stars that gradually in their turn were swallowed up by 

 the advancing streaks of day. A chill wind from the 

 east brought with it the music of birds that were breaking 

 to the sky from the country below as the light of day 

 gradually advanced upon us. Tree tops burst through 

 the ghostly white pall which hung over the country 

 below, but slowly gave way to the overpowering light of 

 day. Gradually the welcome light strengthened, until 

 the great blood-red sun rose above the rugged crests of the 

 hills beyond the Nile, and everything was bathed in 

 the splendour attending the birth of day. Armies of light 

 in a glory of colours transcendent shone above as the 

 great mist rolled back to the east and revealed the vast 



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