106 IN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKA CHAP. 



the cheerful blaze, I listened to the medley of 

 noises, made by the wild things of the forest and 

 river, which came plainly to my ears. The familiar 

 sounds aroused in my mind memories of quite a 

 host of incidents and adventures of other days; 

 and it was with no little pleasure that I recalled the 

 enjoyable time spent with some cheery companions 

 a couple of years before, at a camp not a day's march 

 from where I now sat. 



We were a party of four on the occasion I speak 

 of, and as we had had news of a great herd of 

 buffalo on the opposite side of the river to that on 

 which we were camped, we determined to cross 

 over and go in pursuit. The Tana, even in the 

 dry season, is by no means an easy river to cross, 

 while in the rains it is entirely impassable for weeks 

 at a time. Three of us therefore carefully followed 

 the lead of an experienced guide and passed over in 

 safety, but the fourth, thinking he knew a great deal 

 more about the ford than the guide, haughtily ignored 

 his advice and struck out a line for himself. What 

 might have been expected happened. He missed 

 the ford and his pony put his foot into a deep hole 

 and over went both, headlong into the swiftly flowing 

 stream. Our independent friend parted company, 

 not only with his horse, but also with his hat, which 

 he had to strike out for and rescue, and then swim 

 to the bank, where his horse had meanwhile arrived. 

 I am afraid we were all unkind enough to laugh 



