136 IN AFRICA 



mals. So we could not question him as to Colonel 

 Roosevelt's camp. Later in the afternoon a native 

 runner appeared from the direction of Sergoi with 

 a message to the colonel, but he didn't know where 

 the camp was and didn't seem to be in any great 

 hurry to find out. He calmly made himself the 

 guest of one of our porters and spent the night in 

 our camp, doing much more sitting than running. 



On the morning of the fourteenth we marched 

 toward the river, two hours away, the native run- 

 ner slowly ambling along with us. We had been 

 on the trail about an hour and a half when a shot 

 was heard off to our left. At first we thought it 

 was our Spanish friends, but a few moments later 

 we came to a point where we could see, about a mile 

 away, a long string of porters winding along in 

 the direction from which we came. It was plainly 

 a much larger safari than the Spanish one, and we 

 at once concluded that it was Colonel Roosevelt's. 



Three or four men on horses were visible, but 

 could not be recognized with our glasses. The 

 number corresponded to the colonel's party, how- 

 ever, which we knew to consist of himself and Ker- 

 mit, Edmund Heller and Leslie Tarlton. A mes- 

 senger was sent across the hills to establish their 

 identity and we marched on to the river, a half- 

 hour farther, where we found the smoldering fires 

 of their camp. 



A transport wagon of supplies for the Duke of 

 Penaranda's safari was also there, and from the 

 drivers it was definitely learned that the late occu- 



