44 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



The next night he lost his way near a fula (water- 

 hole), and, as it was late when we found the road 

 again, I sent him back to the fula in order to guide 

 the remainder of the patrol. While waiting there a 

 lion came down to drink. The breadth of the pond, 

 thirty or forty yards, alone separated them. One 

 can imagine his relief as, with a start and lowered 

 head, the lion lopes off. No sound, save the gentle 

 rustling of the night wind, greets the anxious fiki's 

 ears. The sounds and death cries in the forest, for 

 the nonce, are stilled. He has deserted his camel in 

 the hope that the lion might satiate himself on it. 

 Were he near he would see that that patient beast 

 has also received from the wind a message incompre- 

 hensible to human senses. Slowly the anxious minutes 

 pass. Then a tall white form, moving majestically 

 and noiselessly into the moonlit clearing near the 

 water, is clearly reflected on its mirror-like surface. 

 He almost screams from excess of relief. It is the 

 party. Hamza Eff. wisely decides to halt where he is, 

 while my two companions and I, happily unconscious, 

 if conscious not caring, of the enemy around, sleep 

 soundly. As the remainder of the patrol creep past 

 us before the dawn they see three sleeping figures 

 round the ashes of a long-dead fire. 



We follow. We must get to Turda to-day, for the 

 evening before a party of men has passed us, and they 

 may bring information of our approach back. They 

 all carried glowing bits of wood, which they whirled 

 round and round as they walked. This was done 

 partly to scare off wild beasts, but principally to provide 



