THE TUBURI LAKES 95 



and, above all, no mosquito - nets. Oh, how we 

 cursed our cruel fate ! and how we hoped the polers 

 did so too ! I think they did ; for at that eleventh 

 hour they suggested continuing, but Mr Talbot 

 thought the risk unjustifiable. There were twenty 

 people and three chickens crowded into that narrow 

 space, and the only live things that knew happiness 

 that night were mosquitos. They descended upon 

 us in swarms, and had a regular feast. Mrs Talbot 

 put a towel over her face, Mr Talbot a coat, and I 

 from time to time my handkerchief; but on the 

 whole it seemed better to be merely bitten than to 

 be both bitten and stifled. My companions bore it 

 with real stoicism ; but I turned and tossed and 

 yielded to the temptation of retaliation, though I 

 knew it would be ineflective. The chief result was 

 that Mrs Talbot got a good many clouts from my 

 elbows ; but I daresay the change of pain helped 

 her to bear it. Anyway, she never murmured. 



All through the night we heard the boys slapping 

 their bare flesh as the mosquitos attacked them, 

 and the buzz of the enemy sounded in our ears 

 with all the realism of a nightmare. 



We three had lain down at the bottom of the 

 boat, with the chickens at our toes, so closely 

 wedged that there was only just room to turn on 

 our own axis. 



I don't think dawn can ever have been so cordially 

 welcomed as it was by us, and the moment it was 

 light we were on our way. In half an hour's time 

 a disconcerting sight met our eyes. It was our 

 tents, erected on the Pogo shore, and within them 



