116 ALONG LAKE EUDOLF 



had managed to give them the slip, and had found shelter with 

 the Elmolo, with whom she meant to remain till she could 

 get home again. The poor creature, who was still young 

 and really pretty, was evidently quite crushed by all she had 

 gone through. In a low, monotonous voice she related the 

 tale of her sufferings, apparently quite indifferent to anything 

 that was going on about her ; and she answered Lembasso's 

 questions, which had reference chiefly to our route, in the same 

 manner. She did not beg, and did not even seem to care for 

 the presents we gave her. Before she left us we made her 

 promise to return in the evening with some Elmolo ; but neither 

 she nor anyone else came near us, though the whole party 

 passed the night about a mile off. 



Hussein Xaddim Balosi, one of the porters, had disappeared 

 in the morning in a perfectly mysterious manner, and we never 

 saw him again. He was in good health, and several men had 

 seen him just before we missed him. As flight really meant 

 suicide, we were utterly at a loss to explain his leaving us in 

 this manner. 



Friday^ March 16. — Acting on Lembasso's advice, we made 

 a telekesa march to-day. The reason for this was not quite 

 clear to us ; and after several hours' shauri we were quite at a 

 loss to understand the explanations of our guide. But as we 

 knew absolutely nothing about the way, we thought it best to 

 trust to his insight, which would probably be better than our 

 own. We pushed on till nearly ten o'clock close to the edge 

 of the water till we came to a creek, where we rested beneath 

 the shade of a big tree during the great noon-tide heat. During 

 this march the Count had fired at and missed a passing leopard, 

 whilst I had brought down a rhinoceros, wliich had suddenly 

 appeared near our path. In addition to this booty, we also, 

 during our mid-day halt, secured in a very unexpected manner 

 a big fish, weighing some twenty-two pounds. We found it 



