HOMEWAED BOUND 287 



was touching to hear them congratulate each other 

 on a difficulty overcome. 



Another hour passed ; by that time we were travers- 

 ing an open plain, where all was deserted, and there 

 was neither sight nor sound of any village. As we 

 marched we raised clouds of sand, and fatigue and 

 dust combined to make us very thirsty, but there 

 was hardly any water left with which to satisfy our 

 need. We plodded on, now so weary that visions 

 of light danced before our eyes, and we called to 

 one another, " There's the fire ! " But disappointment 

 always awaited us, and we learnt the bitter lesson 

 that we could not trust our senses. It was past 

 eleven when we reached two blocks of hills, and 

 voices echoed along the valley. We had reached 

 our destination at last, and once in camp we all 

 three sat and drank with no thought beyond the 

 gratification of our thirst. Bed that night was very 

 welcome, and when we woke we found ourselves in 

 picturesque surroundings. Through the branches of 

 low scrub trees we saw white cliffs tower up above 

 us, on their crest buildings were dotted like little 

 beehives, and in their centre a jagged ironstone 

 peak jutted abruptly into the dazzling turquoise sky. 

 They were the fortress hills of the Kerri-Kerri. 



That immediately above us was Lewe, visited by 

 the late Captain Claud Alexander and Mr Talbot in 

 1904. Then they had met with hostility from the 

 wild pagan inhabitants, who disputed their advent 

 with poisoned arrows. We sent our head-man to tell 

 the chief we had come as simple travellers to ask 

 their welcome, and two Kerri-Kerri came half-way 



