CHAPTER VIII 
CHRISTMAS, 1914 
A war-Christmas in the virgin forest ! When the 
candles on the little palm which served us as Christmas 
tree had burnt to half their length I blew them out. 
“ What are you doing ? ” asked my wife. “ They are 
all we have,” said I, “ and we must keep them for next 
year.” ‘‘For next year ? ” . . . and she shook her 
head. 
On August 4th, two days after our return from Cape 
Lopez, I had prepared some medicine for a lady who 
was ill there, and sent Joseph to a store to ask that their 
steamer might take the packet down there on its next 
journey. He brought back a short note : ‘‘In Europe 
they are mobilising and probably already at war. We 
must place our steamer at the disposal of the authorities, 
and cannot say when it will go next to Cape Lopez.” 
We needed days to realise that Europe was at war, 
though it was not that we had failed to take the possi- 
bility of it into account ; indeed, following the advice 
of an experienced merchant, I had brought with me a 
considerable sum in metal money in case it should come 
about. But since the beginning of July we had re- 
ceived no news from Europe, and we knew nothing of 
the entanglements which finally brought on the fatal 
explosion. 
The negroes had, at first, very little understanding of 
