176 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT chap. 



after striking they remained fixed upright in the soil. 

 I had just time to leap behind a neighbouring rock 

 with my two men, when a volley of arrows struck close 

 by us. Upon raising my head I distinguished about 100 

 men at work with their bows, discharging arrows with 

 such rapidity as they could in my direction. At the 

 same time, under cover of this thick fire, 200 warriors 

 were approaching us as silently and rapidly as possible. 



A few well-directed shots dispersed the bowmen, but 

 the spearmen were almost upon us ere I could devote 

 attention to them. They came on very pluckily, but 

 were unable to resist the effects of my Winchester 

 and Karscho's Mannlicher. 



Throughout the marching, owing to the looseness 

 of our formation caused by the attention we had 

 to give the flocks. Lieutenant von Hohnel and I 

 rarely caught sight of one another. His presence at 

 the rear of the caravan was made known to me, 

 however, by the familiar sound of his Mannlicher, 

 which rang out every now and then, and convinced 

 me that he, likewise, was very busy curbing the 

 impetuosity of the natives in our rear. Throughout 

 the engagement I found my Winchester most service- 

 able, but Lieutenant von Hohnel was convinced of 

 the superiority of the Mannlicher. Its accuracy of 

 fire, with its extremely long range, enabled him not 

 only to disperse those parties immediately upon him, 

 but also to break up bands of warriors forming at 

 a distance of 500 yards, for the purpose of making 

 concerted attack. Had it not been for him and his 

 Mannlicher, I am convinced that this story would 

 never have been written. 



