378 



OUR STAY AT NDORO 



ascending slopes, through scattered bush haunted by kobus 

 and other antelopes, wild boars, &c, we passed Count Teleki's 

 first camping-place at noon, and pressing on, halted at a 

 little clearing on the edge of a ravine overgrown with vege- 

 tation, where Count Teleki had advised us to camp, as he had 

 heard lions roaring hard by. But the march had pretty well 

 exhausted my newly recovered strength, and I was completely 

 done for when we reached the spot. 



I had, however, shot a kobus antelope on the wa} T , so that 

 the men were in capital spirits, eager to get a hedge up round 

 the camp, so as to begin their cooking. These halts in the 



wilderness with a small 

 party are really among the 

 pleasantest of our reminis- 

 cences of the journey. 



Lower and lower crept 

 the fog from the mountain 

 top, and soon the rain 

 came down in one con- 

 tinuous torrent. But this 

 did not damp our ardour 

 at all, only higher and 

 horns of kobus antelope. higher rose the flames 



from the fires, and closer 

 and closer gathered the groups about them, whilst the wa- 

 sumgumsu or talk became more intimate and pathetic. But 

 now the shades of night are falling, and the time approaches 

 when we may expect to hear the voice of the lion or of the 

 leopard. The voices sink to whispers, and then gradually 

 cease. But there seems after all to be no danger, for not a 

 sound breaks the silence of the wood, and the chattering begins 

 again more eagerly than ever, the men talking about their 

 wives and children, Zanzibar, and so on, till suddenly a 



