CHAPTER X 



EXCURSIONS FROM EL BOGOI {contmuccl) 



A native duel — An offended guide — Camp by Mreya spring — Signs of elephants — A 

 wrong action — Dearth of water — Deemed a benefactor — Lions disturbed— A 

 chance lost — Spot for a mission station — Replenishing the larder — Back to El 

 Bogoi — A faithful headman — A remorse of conscience — A great disappointment 

 — An Ndorobo camp — News of an elephant preserve — Starvation times — Man- 

 eating lions. 



It was agreeable to get back to my comfortable homelike camp 

 here, with its pleasant shade and little cool stream ; especially 

 as I had run out of salt while away, and did not find the saline 

 deposit I got off the dried-up mud about the salt marshes a 

 satisfactory substitute — it tasted more like Epsom salts ! There 

 was no news of Abdulla and the caravan yet. They had been 

 gone now about forty days ; and, though I did not exactly feel 

 anxious, I wished I could know they were safe. Baithai had 

 accompanied me back and had brought a young fellow with 

 him who had received some nasty spear -wounds in a fight 

 with a friend. I doctored his gashes, and he told me, in the 

 cheeriest way, that he had killed his antagonist. They did not 

 seem to think this a matter of any moment. Another Ndorobo 

 was sent to take word to Lesiat of my return. 



I was pretty well occupied, the day after my return, weigh- 

 ing and entering in my note-book all the ivory, and burying 

 it in a big hole close to the door of the hut in which the goods 

 were stored, and with other matters that had to be attended to. 

 A day in camp was not unwelcome ; for I was suffering from 



