With Flashlight and Rifle * 



At a distance. of some miles from the camp I found 

 a large pond in the bed of a dried-up river. Put upon 

 the alert by seeing a vociferous sea-eagle {Haliaetus 

 vocifer), I found in the pool great quantities of fish, which 

 were doomed to destruction by the unexpectedly quick 

 drying up of the stream. They had left it at spawning 

 time, and been cut off. My men took over three hundred 

 kilos of much-needed fish this day, and the news of 

 their big haul gave much joy in the camp. 



By this pond a pair of Egyptian geese had hatched 

 their eggs. The young birds that still lived were about 

 three weeks old ; others had been swallowed by two small 

 crocodiles, which were caught by my men when they 

 were drawing in the fish. In one of these crocodiles, 

 only about a yard in length, one of the goslings was 

 found almost whole and entire ! 



Next day I was to come near meeting the same 

 fate as this young gosling. Crossing the river in a fragile 

 boat, two blacks and I got entangled in a thicket, lost an 

 oar, and with it all control of our course. Next moment 

 we were being swept along as swift as an arrow by the 

 current in mid-stream. 



Below was a deep, quiet pool, in which a great 

 number of big crocodiles lay in wait for their prey. 

 Fortunately our boat came suddenly upon a rock and 

 capsized. We owed our salvation to the fact that both 

 my men and myself were accustomed to the water, and 

 that we were all of tall stature. This enabled us, 

 standing upon the rocks in the water, to hold on to the 

 upturned boat, without, however, being able to move away, 



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