OUR RACE TO PARADISE 31 



giraffe meat. They have many quaint explanations, 

 these blacks, but this one seems almost soimd. 

 Anyway, there were the two jackals dining away 

 peacefully side by side with the king of beasts on 

 this striped filet. 



After three days of reconnoitering I returned to 

 camp and found Percival with a story similar to 

 mine. He had followed a second trail on foot, strik- 

 ing the mountains at a closer point than I did. But 

 there was no sign of "a way through for our heavy 

 vehicles. We held a coimcil of war and sadly agreed 

 that it would be a waste of time to try any further 

 along this route. 



I passed a miserable night. Hour after hour I 

 lay awake thinking of the hardships we had under- 

 gone to get this far, the money it had cost, and the 

 strain on man and equipment; and now we had to 

 turn back and do it all over again in another direc- 

 tion. And, I knew, there was every chance we would 

 succumb to the terrific rains long before we reached 

 our goal. 



Before daylight I had reached a decision. I knew 

 our boys would start grumbling the minute we turned 

 back. So before breakfast I had the porters lined 

 up, posho rationed to each one for four days and 

 started them all back to Archer's Post. They 

 muttered in their own tongue; but with full bellie? 

 they took it pretty well, all things considered. 



