216 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 
quivering flesh, lapping up the warm blood in the 
palms of their hands. In return for the meat which 
I gave them, two of them willingly agreed to go on 
with me and carry the head and haunch of the 
gazelle. When we had got very nearly to the place 
where I intended to camp for the night, a great 
wart-hog suddenly jumped up almost at my horse’s 
feet, and as he had very fine and exceptionally long 
tusks, I dismounted at once and bagged him too. 
The Basoga were delighted at this, and promptly 
cut off the head ; but my own people, who arrived 
with my tent just at this juncture, and who were all 
good Mohammedans, were thoroughly disgusted at 
the sight of this very hideous-looking pig. 
I camped for the night on the banks of the Stony 
Athi, close to where the railway was to cross, and 
made my notes of what was necessary for the 
temporary bridge. At the time the river was abso- 
lutely dry, but I knew that it might at any moment 
become a roaring torrent if rain should set in; it 
would therefore be necessary to span it with a 
forty-foot girder in order to prevent constant 
“washouts”” during the rainy season. The next 
morning I started early on my return to railhead. 
On my way I had to pass the camp which the 
Basoga caravan had just left, but the spectacle of 
about a dozen newly-made graves which the hyenas 
had already torn open caused me to put spurs to 
