DOWN THE LOGONE RIVER 109 



to the bottom of the boat, and the bark was therefore 

 without guidance. Their fear was evidently caused as 

 much by me and my rifle as it was by the hippo, but 

 we exhorted them to courage, for had we been washed 

 on to a sandbank our position would have been pre- 

 carious indeed. We escaped this danger, and the 

 current whirled us down stream with such rapidity 

 that our pursuers lost courage and resigned the chase. 

 The next question was how to profit by the kill, for 

 the reader must not imagine the shooting to have been 

 prompted merely by a lust for blood. Our polers and 

 "boys" seldom tasted meat, and to them, as to the 

 natives along the bank, it was a great and rare luxury. 

 We therefore proposed to land and walk back, but the 

 headman of polers implored us to attempt nothing so 

 hazardous, nor was it the hippo he feared, but the 

 natives who live along that shore, and who had but 

 recently murdered two white men. There was no 

 hope of concealing our presence, for a number of them 

 had seen us pass, and had flung themselves into the 

 water in terror at the sound of the rifle. It was 

 therefore decided to relinquish our quest, and, vexa- 

 tious though it was to leave the hippo, one of our 

 purposes at least had been fulfilled, for the natives 

 knew where they had fallen and someone would enjoy 

 a least. 



In the evenings we generally used to go on some 

 collecting expedition while camp was being pitched. 

 Sometimes it would be to a sandbank after birds, when 

 a boy would carry us through the stream. On one 

 occasion rivalry caused my downfall, for Mrs Talbot's 

 bearer was a long way ahead and was nearing the 

 shore across a distant but shallow channel. My boy 



