42 



Coming down the river the men made it lively 

 and interesting and treated me to rather a novel 

 entertainment. As they propelled the boat rap- 

 idly along they chanted droll tunes. There were 

 part-songs, and solos with choruses that told of 

 tales of the chase, mournful tragedies, and ad- 

 ventures. As they sang they would now and 

 again throw up the water with their paddles, so 

 that it played in the sunshine, and fell in a 

 jeweled shower, while all through it an accom- 

 paniment was kept up by the tapping of their 

 paddles on the side of the boat. They also inter- 

 spersed the songs with long, peculiar blasts on 

 the hunting horns, and this, I learned later in the 

 day, was a signal to all those within hearing that 

 a big killing had taken place, and by nightfall we 

 had many visitors from the neighboring Indians 

 and bushmen, all of whom were given a liberal 

 portion of meat. 



That night I slept soundly until the small 

 hours of morning, when I grew restless and 

 finally awoke to the fact that a hundred places 

 over my anatomy gave me a peculiar itching, 

 burning sensation. 



"Can't stand it any longer," I finally said 

 aloud. "Ranjettan, get up and make a fire; 

 there is something eating me alive," I 



