xxxvi THE HUNTER'S END 313 



trip. As it was the rainy season, and an exception- 

 ally wet one at that, his friends at the Lake advised 

 him to postpone his safari until the rains had 

 ceased, but Watkinson was not to be persuaded, 

 and so went forth on his last shoot. 



Four months later, three diseased and emaciated 

 men arrived at the Lake : they were Watkinson's 

 two boys and gun-bearer. Depending for food on 

 what they could kill, and covered with sores owing 

 to the privations they had suffered, they had made 

 their way through a hostile country and at length 

 managed to reach Matengula, bringing back in 

 safety their master's guns, a few personal belong- 

 ings, and his diary. In the diary was a portrait of 

 his mother. 



After leaving the Lake shore, Watkinson and 

 his party had travelled for some ten days through 

 an uninhabited and foodless forest between the 

 Msinjie and Lujenda Rivers, where, at the time, I 

 had been hunting for about two years, and, during 

 this portion of his journey, his carriers had basely 

 deserted, leaving him and his two companions 

 to fare as best they could. Having put all 

 the loads that they were unable to carry, up in 

 trees, where they would be secure from the atten- 

 tions of wild animals, they had plodded slowly 

 on. Judging from the painfully brief entries 

 in his diary, Watkinson was now in a very weak 



