50 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE. 



endeavored to obtain my offered reward, not one was 

 able to catch a young gorilla for me, and that it was to 

 chance I finally owed the possession of one. 



On leaving my Fan friends I had told Thursday of my 

 plan to travel toward the river Rembo, striking it about 

 the spot where, making a sudden turn at right angles, it 

 flows swiftly northward and, fifty or sixty miles away, 

 plunges into the sea. I had been told that this country 

 was full of gorillas and every variety of monkey. As the 

 neighborhood of the coast was unhealthy, because of the 

 large number of marshes there, we turned east and jour- 

 neyed through higher wooded lands. These forests are 

 the haunts of numerous small game, — deer, hare, and 

 wild fowl, — in such numbers that it precluded the danger 

 of hunger. 



Five days after my departure we had struck the light 

 tent that I always used in the woods, — for nothing is more 

 unhealthy than the night dews in the African forests, — 

 and I was walking ahead talking with Thursday ; behind 

 us came his wife and boy, and, behind them, my five 

 porters, humming an air in their nasal tones in time to 

 their step, like sailors w^io join in a refrain as they 

 stamp round the capstan. Suddenly Thursday stopped, 

 making us a sign to do the same. I was carrying my 

 rifle on my shoulder, but as quick as thought I dropped 

 the barrel into my left hand and stood ready. It does 

 not do ever to be surprised in these woods, and a second's 

 hesitation often costs dear. 



