THE LAND OF FOOTPRINTS 



whistled at him. Thereupon he awoke, tried to 

 look very alert, and pointed in the direction we 

 should go. After an interval we picked up another 

 sentinel, and another, and another until, passed 

 on thus from one to the next, we traced the move- 

 ments of the herd. Finally we came upon Mav- 

 rouki and Simba under a bush. From them, in 

 whispers, we learned that the buffalo were karibu 

 Sana — very near; that they had fed this far, and 

 were now lying in the long grass just ahead. Leav- 

 ing the men, we now continued our forward move- 

 ment on hands and knees, in single file. It was very 

 hot work, for the sun beat square down on us, and 

 the tall grass kept oif every breath of air. Every 

 few moments we rested, lying on our faces. Oc- 

 casionally, when the grass shortened, or the slant 

 of ground tended to expose us, we lay quite flat and 

 hitched forward an inch at a time by the strength 

 of our toes. This was very severe work indeed, and 

 we were drenched in perspiration. In fact, as I had 

 been feeling quite ill all day, it became rather doubt- 

 ful whether I could stand the pace. 



However after a while we managed to drop down 

 into an eroded deep little ravine. Here the air was 

 like that of a furnace, but at least we could walk up- 

 right for a few rods. This we did, with the most ex- 

 traordinary precautions against even the breaking 



342 



