AN ESCAPE IN THE DARK 



require pluck to be treacherous, and I knew that 

 treachery was my immediate danger with these 

 people. 



On the ridge that we had left behind when descending 

 the valley, which now towered above us, I could see 

 outlined against the sky hundreds of naked forms waving 

 spears and all sorts of weapons which flashed in the 

 sun's rays. They were hurling imprecations and yelling 

 at us furiously, and I began to look forward to reaching 

 the other side of the river. At the foot of the valley the 

 path for half a mile was lined with dense trees and bush 

 that offered splendid shelter, and we would have been 

 helpless and tangled up in the bushes in the semi- 

 darkness had an attack been made, so we hurried as much 

 as possible. Just as we entered the bush I heard a rush 

 of feet behind, and swinging round I drew into the bushes 

 and covered the path with my rifle, expecting to see the 

 people follow, and I was not disappointed, for even as I 

 pumped a shell into the breech half a dozen fiendish forms 

 with long lances came round the bend in the path with the 

 intention of following us into the wood. On seeing the 

 gun, however, they turned back, but I did not venture 

 to proceed until the sounds of their feet grew faint, and 

 even then I stopped frequently to listen for any sounds 

 of pursuit ; but everything was still, every one had 

 ceased to shout and blow trumpets, and, but for the birds 

 in the trees, a great silence had suddenly fallen on the 

 land. I was thinking it might be the calm before the 

 storm, especially when, pushing through the wealth of 

 ferns, bush, and creeper on the riverside, I found that 

 the water had risen since our last passage of this 

 ford. 



The awful truth now dawned on me, the Insa was in 

 flood, and it would be impossible to cross until I could 

 find a suitable spot or a tree spanning the stream. Even 

 then there would be difficulty in getting the loads across. 



221 



