136 WAR: A SCOUTS' PATROL 



days. As each day brought us nearer, the spoor 

 of the " tame ingiraffe " becoming fresher and 

 fresher, our boys began to get rather scared and 

 to give trouble, so we had to kick the two ring- 

 leaders out of the camp, pour encourager les autres. 

 After this we had no further trouble. Tucker ran 

 a bit short, for though game was plentiful, we 

 were anxious, as we got near the party ahead, not 

 to shoot, lest we should alarm the Germans and so 

 give them warning of our approach. We knew 

 we should have them right enough, so long as they 

 did not see or hear us first : forewarned, they 

 might have turned the tables on us. The seventh 

 day of the chase we came up quite close to them, 

 and that very night a messenger arrived in camp 

 from Major Gordon, who, with four men, was not 

 far behind. Both the Germans and ourselves had 

 then crossed the river. That same night we sur- 

 rounded the Germans' camp, only to find that 

 they had made a further short trek ahead of us. 

 In the morning Major Gordon arrived, after a 

 quick thirty-mile ride, and the whole party 

 followed the spoor straight on. Two Germans 

 were taken in a canoe on the river, and the re- 

 mainder were surrounded and surprised in their 

 camp. After some demur, they came out and sur- 

 rendered, though one very sulky individual tried 

 to change his mind and picked up a rifle ; it only 

 needed a prod in the stomach with the muzzle of a 

 Lee-Enfield to convince him that the game was up. 

 Thanks to the Major, the duties of guarding our 



