74 SAVAGE SUDAN 



scarce able to see for the living- cloud of furious insects 

 around my face, and stumbling 1 every second step into some 

 hidden hippo-track, a foot deep and more. Thicker and 

 thicker swarmed the bees on me till the buzz in my ears 

 sounded like a shrill scream rising and falling in varying 

 cadence; while masses of them settled on face, ears, 

 neck, hands, and arms. I tried to rig a pugaree 

 under my helmet useless anyway ; the only result 

 was that an extra crowd got inside and stung me all 

 over the scalp. Luckily I had wit enough left to leave 

 them there. 



Now the sting of a bee is not in itself a serious matter ; 

 but the cumulative effect of thousands delivered simul- 

 taneously can come fairly near being fatal. Between the 

 physical pain and the labour of forcing a way through 

 tough canes under a tropical sun, I soon became pretty 

 well demented. I remember trying to bury my head in 

 a hippo-hole among the grass-roots. No good ; the 

 exasperated legions followed in and I had to fly again. 

 Mahomed Maghazi joined me. We tried to light a fire ; 

 but I realised at once that ere we could get green grass 

 to burn I should be stung to death, so continued my 

 flight alone. 



The next thing of which I have a definite recollection 

 was the appearance of a native savage whence and how 

 Heaven knows who seized me in his arms, threw me 

 on the ground, and belaboured me with something. I 

 remember those blows, but not much else till I found 

 myself being carried shoulder - high by Abdul Hamil 

 and my own crew ; they had wrapped me in their 

 burnouses and bore me to the gyassa, a mile away. 

 The kindness and devotion of these wild Africans 

 passes belief; had they been brothers they could have 

 done no more. Though being severely stung them- 

 selves, they bore me along, rolled in their own clothes ; 

 four bearers, two others driving off the enemy, the 

 seventh shielding my head from the sun. Splendid 



