OUR SECOND SAFARI 



very trying. From the top we saw our porters 

 tramping along the plain below, wending their way 

 like a serpent as the native path turned and twisted. 

 On reaching the top, however, our fatigue grew less, 

 as usual, owing to the wonderful air. We tramped 

 on about another two and a half miles or so to- 

 wards the water we were told to camp by, then 

 turned aside, and tried to make a fire, intending 

 to camp there when the porters turned up. It be- 

 came darker and darker and we became colder and 

 colder, and even Saidi, the native orderly, could not 

 induce any fire to come out of the damp grass. 

 Presently we raised our voices and called aloud 

 to find out where the others were ; and finally, 

 thinking something unforeseen must have happened 

 to them, we retraced our steps in the dark, keeping 

 Mark well to heel in case a leopard took a fancy to 

 having dog for supper. Every now and then we 

 fired a shot, but got no answer, so that we had 

 horrible thoughts of the porters having refused to 

 climb the escarpment. We had left the head por- 

 ter below to tell them all to come on to the first 

 water and bring firewood. But we noticed as we 

 left that he was busy building himself a fire, which 

 seemed useless for so short a time, but they love 

 doing it, so we reasoned. It would have been ex- 

 ceedingly dangerous to try and climb down the es- 

 carpment in the dark, more so than at the other 

 places we tried before, as there were parts of it 



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