THE DINKAS 153 



me to return the way I had come, but I put all 

 arguments to one side and started with them. I had 

 reason to be glad of their presence, for at our midday 

 halt the Dinkas about closed round our camp, and, 

 disregarding the manners of the bush, brought their 

 spears right up to where I was, instead of piling them 

 outside it. The Dinkas refused to believe that the 

 troops massing at Wau were meant for the expedition 

 against the cannibals in the south, and so were in a 

 disturbed state ; so much so, that a section of the 

 tribe unsuccessfully attacked Captain Percival, D.S.O., 

 who was leading the " Mule Company" of the Hagana 

 south through their country. I dismissed the Sultan's 

 elder son here with a present, as we were going into 

 the bush, and got other guides. The younger one 

 had dismissed himself before. Atiok Chiok later 

 described to me by gesture and interpreter the beat- 

 ing he had administered to him for doing so. My 

 laughter led to a repetition of the pantomime. 



The grass in the forest had just been burnt down, 

 so we left a fine track for the sluggards of the 

 party to follow. I got a couple of fine Jackson 

 hartebeest near the Boru. After killing the first, I 

 practically walked into the middle of the herd, 

 which looked stupidly at me. One morning, just 

 at dawn, we sighted a dark mass, which my com- 

 panions first described as a herd of elephants, then 

 as wart-hogs, and which turned out to be buffaloes (!), 

 so deceptive is the early morning light. My stalk 

 was rendered futile by the fact that a cow with a calf, 

 some distance my side of the herd, prevented me getting 



