304 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



with her, if discovered, would assuredly have meant 

 imprisonment for my boy, he came to the conclusion 

 that there was only one solution to the problem he 

 must redeem Amina from slavery and marry her. 

 The question resolved itself into a question of 

 money, generally a scarce commodity with Seremani, 

 who was one of those rollicking, good-natured 

 fellows, gifted with a happy knack of always looking 

 at the laughing side of things, and who, like most 

 good fellows, spent his money as quickly as he got 

 it. He pondered long over the delicate subject, and, 

 as love overcometh all things, it disclosed to him a 

 way out of his difficulty. One day he came, with 

 the dejected mien that only a man caught in the toils 

 of love can assume, and laid the whole matter 

 before me, confessing that he had spent fifty rupees 

 in a week on his light o' love and had not a sou left, 

 much less the price of Amina's ransom, and asking 

 me if I would redeem her for him. I gave him the 

 money he required, and, as soon as he possibly could, 

 he bought Amina's freedom and married her. 

 Fortunately, it is not given to mortals to see what is 

 in store for them in this little picture of life, behind 

 the figure of Cupid, there loomed the dread shadow 

 of Atropos. 



Leaving the coast, we arrived, after a seven days' 

 journey, at Seremani's old home, in the vicinity of 

 which we decided to form our main camp. Thence, 



