CHAPTER XIII 



September 4. — ^Left Dolo and the donkeys — six re- 

 main — and went up river to Cuninghame's bridge site. 

 Kongoni and I deflected to the right to get some meat 

 for (a) Dolo and Company, and (b) the men we were 

 sending back to the Simba Camp to bring on the stores 

 we had had to leave. The game had a wild day, but 

 after a little trouble I got within distance and laid out 

 two topi, one with two shots at 260 and 217 yards, and 

 the other with one at 227. We then cut across country 

 and caught Cuninghame just as he was making camp 

 in a thicket. 



Tackled the river. Some taU slim palms grew at the 

 very water 's edge opposite an island. We felled several, 

 the tops of which caught the current so that they were 

 swept away, but finally got one to stick against the 

 island. A boy swarmed across it carrying a rope. Thus 

 we had communication established. By felling other 

 palms and dragging them we finally made a teetery 

 sort of footing. Crossed the island to look at the other 

 branch of the river. It was more of a problem be- 

 cause there were no palms on the island, though plenty 

 on the other bank. A volunteer managed to swim 

 over, at great risk. He caught a rope and made it 



^55 



