404 ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA chap. 



not going back the way they came nor heading for some part 

 they know, as would other animals, but becoming hopelessly 

 lost. On the other hand, they never stray gratuitously, and in 

 this way are infinitely less trouble. Indeed they are rather a 

 nuisance from the perversity with which they persist in poking 

 about inside the camp and getting among one's tent-ropes. 



The day after the siege of our camp had thus been raised, 

 by the death of the last of the besiegers, Abdulla returned from 

 Mthara. He was evidently proud of having had no casualties 

 among his donkeys in passing through the district where lions 

 were numerous, across the Gwaso Xyiro, and believed this 

 immunity to be due to a charm which he possessed. Though 

 too polite to express his feelings in words, his self-satisfied smile 

 was indicative of conscious superiority in this particular respect. 

 He left again a day or two later, with the first instalment of 

 ivory for Ukambani, where it was to be deposited at Mtiya's. 

 It was not till some days later, though, that the men with my 

 mail, which had been fetched from the German mission station 

 at the coastward end of the above country, arrived. 



I had, of course, had no letters or papers, nor any com- 

 munication with the outside world, since I had passed through 

 there just about a year before ; and it may be imagined how 

 anxiously I looked forward to getting news, especially after 

 being laid up so long with nothing to read. It was, then, a 

 joyful moment when I heard one of the men exclaim that the 

 long-expected messengers with the mail were close by, and a 

 glad sight to see Squareface come round the corner, followed 

 by his mates, and deposit a sackful of letters and papers at my 

 feet. But, as often happens in such cases, the realisation does 

 not bear out the anticipation. After reading hard half the 

 night, one's head, now so unaccustomed to this form of excite- 

 ment, gets in a whirl, which prevents much sleep during the 

 other half, with headache to follow next day. Moreover, I have 

 generally found that letters that have been waited for so long, 

 and so much looked forward to, are to a large extent dis- 



