And Relates His Adventures. 
59 
extravagant laughter. .When they met him he was carrying a half -eaten 
land-tortoise on his shoulders, hitherto his greatest antipathy, so as 
probably to keep the remainder for his next meal. How often, when 
disliing up a tortoise, had he solem(idy assured us that he would rather 
die of starvation, than eat a particle of the llesh, but up to then he had 
not learnt from experience the old adage that Necessity knows no law : 
and yet she had even forced him to eat the hated meat raw. I>eing still 
too weak to-day to return to camp -w ith the party, several of the people 
were left behind to hring him into the village next morning. 
148. When he did arrive on the follo\\ing day, I ^^ as terribly 
shocked at his appearance. In the trembling, ever mom,entarily startled, 
corpse-like figure that could hardly stand without supi)ort, and with its 
wildly troubled looks, Hamlet, the ever smirking Hamlet, was no longer to 
be recognised : the distress that had been retained up to yesterday was still 
noticeable, and it was only on the day after when his naturally weak 
mind had recovered somewhat of its balance, that he told us bit by bit 
the story of his sufferings. After passing Hendrick and the two Indians, 
he had gone into the forest, and continued follo>\ ing what ai)peared to be 
the right track until, struck by the deep silence, he wondered Avhy he had 
not caught up with any of those ahead. He stopped where he ^\'as to 
wait for the i*ear-guard, but this never came — he tunu^d back to go and 
meet them, but they were not to be found. And when at last, towards 
evening, he struck the rock ^•*ithout discovering even a trace of those 
he had left there, he was forced to the awful conclusion that he was lost: 
every call for help renijained unheeded. Fear of wild animals and evil 
S]urit'<. whose victim he already felt himself doomed to be. robbed him 
of the last vestiges of sense, and yelling wildly, he had broken through 
the brush and underwood and finally reached the original starting-place 
agnin. It was only on the secoml day that he had experienced a na^giny 
hunger which he stilled with m'lishrooms until, in the course of his 
circling peregrinations, he discovered the tortoise. He had not had a 
M'ink of sleep for three days and two nights, and on tlie last one had 
prayed to Iiis dead m'otlier's ghost to save him. On the second day he 
had certainly heard the shooting and had run in the direction indicated 
when the signals suddenly ceased — Stöckle and company had settled 
down to sleep — and he liad given himself ui> as hopelessly lost until, on 
the third day, the renewed firing acquainted him that peojile were still on 
the search. He had now gathered all his strengtli for one supreme 
effort, had hui'ried towards the spot where the shots were fired, and too 
exhausted to proceed further had then by ealling and shouting, given 
signs of Ills existence, when he was foi f uiiately found. 
149. Owing to his Aveakened physical condition it was out of 
the question for him to accompany us on the remainder of the journey. 
In spite, however, of our solemn assurance to ])irk him u|) again on our 
return from the sources of the Tiikutu, his fright had been strung to such 
a pitch, that our symfinithetic suggestions liad to be substituted by per- 
emptoi-y orders before he AVould submit to his terrible fate, for that was 
the light in which he regarded his having to stay behind. 
