148 IN AFRICA 



camp, get a guide, and then push on to the elephant 

 camp, where he hoped to arrive by ten o'clock at 

 night. He would then be in time to help with the 

 skinning, w r hich we expected would be continued 

 throughout the entire night. Kermit stopped at his 

 own camp and gave Clark a guide for the rest of 

 the journey, after which he went to bed. 



At eleven o'clock the sound of firing was heard 

 some place off in the darkness. The night guard of 

 the Roosevelt camp, rightly construing it to be a 

 signal, answered it with a shot, and, guided by the 

 latter, Clark and his party of salt-laden porters 

 once more appeared. They had traveled in a circle 

 for three hours and were hopelessly lost. Kermit 

 was routed out and again supplied more guides 

 also a compass and also the direction to follow. 

 Unfortunately he made a mistake and said north- 

 west instead of southeast otherwise his directions 

 were perfect. 



For three hours more Clark and his porters went 

 bumping through the night, stumbling through the 

 long grass and falling into hidden holes. The 

 porters began to be mutinous and the guides were 

 thoroughly and hopelessly lost. It was then that 

 they one and all laid down in the tall grass, made 

 a fire to keep the lions and leopards away, and 

 slept soundly until daylight. Even then the situa- 

 tion was little better, for the guides were still at sea. 

 About the time that Clark decided to return to the 

 river, miles away, and take a fresh start, he fired 

 a shot in the forlorn hope of getting a response 



