STALKING IN THE NYIKA 



days near the Nguasso-Nyioro in the Nguruman dis- 

 trict. One hot day I went out to stalk game, accom- 

 panied by a number of natives. I was very successful, 

 and sent most of the men back to the camp laden with 

 the spoils of the hunt. At ten o'clock in the fore- 

 noon I drained the last drop of tepid water from my 

 flask, but I did not intend to stray very far from the 

 camp. Being very inexperienced, I was carried away 

 by the novelty of such hunting, so that I found myself 

 many hours distant from the camp before I thought of 

 returning. The two natives who were with me lost 

 the way, and when night came we found ourselves in 

 the middle of a thorn thicket, not knowing which way 

 to turn. In the hope of attracting the attention of my 

 friends in the camp, I 6red in quick succession most of 

 my cartridges, but no answer came. We resigned our- 

 selves to spending the night in the "pori," the thicket. 

 My black companions fell asleep almost immediately. 

 I was kept awake by a feeling of intense thirst. While 

 restlessly shifting my position, my foot knocked against 

 a hard object. It proved to be the bleached and half- 

 decayed skull of a buffalo. 



My thirst becomes more and more tormenting; my 

 feverish condition painfully intensifies my sense of 

 hearing. I perceive strange crackling and rustling 

 noises around me in the dry thicket. Near me in the 

 bush a galago utters a shrill yell; a screech-owl answers 

 the lemur. Minute after minute, hour after hour 



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