no IN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKA CHAP. 



was no prominent landmark of any kind to serve as 

 a guide. 



I now fired the last cartridge that I could spare, 

 which left me with but three for the night, and sat 

 my pony eagerly listening and longing to hear an 

 answering shot from my companions somewhere 

 across the river. No such cheering sound broke 

 the stillness of the gathering gloom, but instead I 

 was startled to see the heads of two great rhino 

 emerge from the bushes not forty yards away. 

 They had evidently scented me, and now began to 

 sniff the air and turn their heads from side to side 

 in their efforts to locate me. I speedily got out of 

 their way, and when I had put sufficient distance 

 between us, I decided upon a tree in which I meant 

 to pass the night, as by this time I had given up all 

 hope of being able to find the ford over the river. 



The sensation of being lost in such a wilderness is 

 not at all pleasant, especially when one has had 

 nothing to eat, and I must say that I felt pretty 

 miserable. But when I remembered the exploits of 

 some of the old African travellers and thought 

 of the lonely and trying positions in which some 

 of them had so often been placed, I was somewhat 

 comforted and reassured, for after all I knew that 

 my inconvenience was only a temporary one, and 

 I remember quite well saying to myself, "You 

 are only lost for a night; it isn't as if you were 



