"> Stalking Expeditions in the Xyika 



observations, in the scorching heat ot the sun, and sending 

 a number of booty-laden carriers back into camp. At 

 about ten o'clock a.m. my thirst}' throat had been 

 refreshed In the last drop of boiling-hot water from the 

 big hunting-flask, so that now I had to go thirsty until 

 evening, when I was sure ot finding water in the distant 

 camp. Hour after hour went by; all I saw enthralled 

 me I was then a new-comer in the HI Dorado of the 

 African /oology and made me forget my thirst. 



( )n our return the unusual mishap befell me of my 

 two remaining guides losing their way ; in the last-coming 

 darkness we. plunged into the myriad labyrinths ot a 

 thorn-thicket, and by nightfall, scratched and torn by 

 the thorns, it was impossible to get any farther. \\ V 

 had lost our bearings, had ended by wandering round 

 in a circle, and now it became quite clear to me that 

 we should be obliged to spend the night amidst the 

 prickly pears. So we crouched down on a bare place 

 a few feet broad, and as my toot knocked against a 

 hard object, I looked and found it to be the halt- 

 mouldered skull ot a buffalo, evident!} a victim of the 

 rinderpest. In the hope ot" being heard in camp, 1 

 foolishly tired away almost all my cartridges, but in vain ; 

 there was no answer. 



Pead-tired, in}- tongue literally cleav 

 ot my mouth, I now crouched down 

 trees grown over by creepers, mv L; 

 in}' tour remaining cartridges. 



A monkey uttered his piercin:.;' yell; an o\vl replied. 

 Listening, with strained ears, in the absolute darkness. 



