OUR MEN GO TO SEEK FOOD 



137 



other as tliey came, dashed by, with lowered horns, in dangerous 

 proximity to us. Almost before we knew what they were they 

 were gone, the trembling of the ground and the clouds of dust 

 alone witnessing to their passage. We fired shot after shot 

 into the seething brown mass as rapidly as possible, and though 

 every bullet must have hit, not one animal fell. 



The rain poured down in torrents all night, moderating a 

 little towards morning, but continuing in a steady stream, 

 shrouding everything in mist, so that we could see nothing a 

 hundred yards away. Between nine and ten o'clock in the 

 morning it generally stopped raining, but the sky remained 

 grey. Under such circumstances the loveliest scenery would 

 have looked dreary, and our spirits were gloomy too, though 

 not so gloomy as those of our men. We resumed our march in 

 a north-westerly direction on April 27, climbing slowly up a 

 pathless slope, through long wet grass or swampy pools, now 

 and then in the beds of small streams, finding them, in fact, much 

 easier walking. At mid-day we camped on the banks of a full 

 and rapid stream. There was not a trace of natives to be seen 

 anywhere, but we gave our men their ration in beads and stuffs 

 in the afternoon, telling them to find the Wameru and buy their 

 food 'from them. Some half of them went olF at once, which 

 seemed simpler than taking the whole caravan to hunt up the 

 mountaineers. We awaited the return of the men with impa- 

 tience, and tried to pass the time in hunting, but the weather 

 soon put a stop to that. As the rain poured down, and hour 

 after hour passed by without a sign of our men, we began to 

 get anxious. Had we not only lately been warned by a strong- 

 caravan of the thievish propensities of the Wameru, who 

 had come down in the darkness to carry off their goods ? 

 Night fell, and we were beginning to feel sure that something 

 untoward had occurred, when we heard the muffled sound of a 

 shot, and presently our men began to drop in singly and in pairs, 



