XXVII 



BACK TO THE GUASO NYIRO 



337 



I then paid them liberally for having accompanied me 

 through the desert, and on the following morning 

 they returned to their own land, heaping showers of 

 blessings on my head. 



While we were crossing the river one of the boys, 

 a lazy, worthless rascal, whom I had often to punish, 



"RUSHED EAGERLY INTO THE COOL, FLOWING STREAM." 



was nearly drowned, as he was carried off his legs 

 and swept away by the force of the stream, and but 

 for a timely rescue it is probable that a crocodile 

 would have seized him among the rocks a little 

 lower down, where these hideous brutes abounded. 

 It was an odd chance that a photograph was being 

 taken of the scene just as this accident occurred. 



