OUR DONKEYS NEARLY DROWNED 



163 



The river was some 33 yards wide at the ford, from 7 to 

 8 feet deep in the middle, and the current was pretty strong, 

 so we had to use the boat for the transit. We established a 

 temporary ferry quickly enough, our movements hastened by a 

 downpour of rain. Most of the men and all the loads were 

 soon on the other side, and then came the cattle and donkeys. 

 Led by an old cow, who, as she had been with us ever since we 

 left Masinde, was used to the ups and downs of travel, the 

 former behaved well enough, plunged into the water, bravely 

 battled with the current, and landed cleverly on the other side. 

 Not so the grey donkeys. Of course their saddles had been 

 taken off some time before, and they had been allowed to graze 

 by the river-side. Now they were surrounded by our men, and 

 driven to the ford with horrible cries and resounding blows. 

 With their heads well above water they swam to the middle of 

 the river, but there they relaxed their efforts and allowed them- 

 selves to be swept down by the current. We were eagerly 

 watching them, and rushed off to try and save them. We now 

 discovered that we w^ere really ourselves on an island only, and 

 not on the farther bank. We had water all around us, and 

 could not get at the animals, who, however, after tumbling 

 about for some time in the network of channels and backwaters, 

 were stranded in a state of exhaustion in a shallow part of the 

 river with perpendicular banks, overhung with masses of vege- 

 tation. It was some time before we could take our bearings, 

 but when we knew where we were we set to vigorously at 

 the work of rescue, hewing our way to the edge of the water, 

 uprooting bushes, &c, and succeeded at last, after six hours' 

 toil, in getting all the animals on to dry land again. 



We had now crossed the main stream, but we had still two 

 tributaries to ford. The first was only some four and a half 

 yards across, but deep and rapid, and with steep, crumbling 

 sides. A tree-trunk formed a rough bridge, over which the 



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