HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



roar over the rocks. It was in flood, and sending down 

 too much water for us to cross that night. I sent one 

 of the boys in to try, but he went only a few yards and 

 returned, saying that the water was too deep. Thinking 

 it was a ruse on his part to wait and have a good sleep 

 rather than go further on that night, I waded in myself, 

 and found it almost impossible to stand against the 

 current in mid-stream. Beyond that it was deeper still, 

 and I saw that we would have to wait until the water 

 went down. It was a risky thing to wade about in the 

 river there, for so close to the Nile it was quite possible 

 that a stray crocodile might be in the neighbourhood. We 

 searched the bank up and down stream for a canoe that 

 is supposed to be kept here, but nothing of the sort was 

 visible. It had probably been swept away. 



That night I slept in one of the tents that we had 

 seen. They belonged to Mr. Longdon, who was staying 

 overnight at the Austrian Mission close to the other bank 

 of the river. The tents were under the charge of his 

 headman, a Masai boy, a splendid fellow, who did all 

 he possibly could to make me comfortable for the night. 

 He had a few askaris with him and a number of porters. 



Salem and my other two boys told them the story of 

 our journey down, to which the others listened intently as 

 they all sat huddled around the blazing fire, by which 

 my clothes were being dried. 



Next morning the river had subsided sufficiently to 

 allow us to cross, and shortly after doing so we got on to 

 a ridge, from which we could see the boma at Koba, 

 with the belt of trees that surrounds it standing clearly 

 against the skyline about eight miles away, and two hours 

 later I was seated under the banda in our camp at Koba. 



A large batch of letters lay awaiting me at the post- 

 office, and it took me quite two hours the next day to 

 read through them. I had not heard from home for 

 nearly eight months ! 



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