340 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



I felt confident that by brisk marching I would be 

 able to fulfil my promise. There was a marked dif- 

 ference in the marching ability of the men who had 

 been with us to the Rendile, and of those who had 

 remained at Daitcho. The latter suffered excessively 

 from thirst, although, for the first day and a half, we 

 were never more than one hour without crossing a 

 stream of some sort. Their feet were sore, and they 

 evinced signs of fatigue after a short march. 



On the morning of July 26, two days from Dait- 

 cho, we set out early, knowing that we had a long, 

 waterless march between us and the Ngombe crater. 

 I cautioned my men to be sparing in the use of the 

 water in their bottles; and, not contenting myself with 

 this, I halted at the end of each hour, and examined 

 the quantity in the bottle of each man. I offered 

 rewards for the men who would arrive at camp with 

 a drop or two in their bottles, and promised punish- 

 ment to those who should exhaust the three litres 

 before reaching camp. These deterrents proved of 

 no avail. Two hours after we had set out, the new 

 recruits from Daitcho had exhausted every drop in 

 their bottles; while those who had been with me to 

 the Rendile had, by that time, not touched their water 

 at all. It was pitiful to hear the foolish creatures who 

 had exhausted their supply, not only begging, but offer- 

 ing to purchase a draught from the bottles of their 

 wiser companions. 



By 2 P.M. two of my men were nearly dead with 

 thirst; they were quite out of their minds, and raved 

 continually. Their loads were taken away, and given 

 to two men I had brought with me and permitted to go 



