AN ANXIOUS NIGHT WITH ALBERT. 295 



7 A.M., and halted at 10 A.M. under some shady mimosas, 

 where we remained till 4 P.M. to avoid the great midday 

 heat. Ranfurly has exchanged his horse for a camel, 

 as he has a very comfortable saddle for the latter ; and 

 from long practice he experiences no fatigue from the 

 swinging motion. The baggage camels were given an 

 hour's start in the afternoon, and the chief Arab was 

 told to halt earlier than the previous night. It was 

 with great difficulty that Albert was induced to leave 

 his resting-place and remount ; and anticipating much 

 trouble again with him, Vivian agreed to remain behind 

 with me to make sure that his Arab guide did not leave 

 him to the hyaenas. Ranfurly found it better to keep 

 steadily on, and was very soon within sight of the 

 advance party, and never pulled up until 3.15 A.M. when 

 they voluntarily came to a halt. 



Were we to live for a hundred years, the weary and 

 anxious hours passed by Vivian and myself during that 

 night's journey would remain vividly impressed on our 

 memory. After a few hours' progress, Albert, as we 

 expected, dismounted and laid down. When we came 

 up to him we compelled him to remount and go on, 

 and then tried our best to cheer him ; but directly we 

 dropped back a little the performance was immediately 

 repeated. We then kept close behind to prevent a 

 further repetition, but he signally defeated us ; for his 

 horse starting at something by the way, poor Albert 



