HUMAN BEINGS AT LAST 605 
if I had not found the pool ; perhaps my strength would 
not have held out until I reached the next. 
The eastern bank of the river was fringed wdth the 
dry yellow reeds of the previous year, and the young, 
green spring sprouts were pushing themselves up between 
the tall close-set stalks of the old. Behind the reed- 
beds towered the forest, sombre and threatening, with 
the silver crescent of the moon hanging in the crown 
of a tall poplar. I sat beside the pool ; and noticed that 
its bright surface, seen under the dark shadows of the 
forest, was black as ink. The pool was about twenty 
yards long. 
Then I heard a rustling in the thicket close beside me, 
the sound of stealthy footsteps, and the crackling of the 
dry reeds as they were pushed aside. It might have been 
a tiger. But anyway I felt not a quiver of fear. I had 
just been granted a renewal of life. The mere thought of 
seeing a tiger’s head, with its glittering eyes, peeping 
out of the reeds, had a sort of fascination for me. I would 
look into them fearlessly, and ask the beast how he durst 
think of taking my dearly bought life. But the intruder, 
whatever he was, withdrew. His footsteps died away 
in the reeds. Whether it was a tiger, or some other wild 
animal of the forest, which had come down to the pool 
to drink, it had at any rate deemed it prudent to remain at 
a distance so long as the place was haunted by a human 
being. 
Then my thoughts flew back to Kasim, whom I left 
lying alone in the forest, fighting against death, unable 
to move a yard, still less drag himself a distance of three 
hours to the pool of water. He was in urgent need of 
immediate help. The chocolate tin was too small to carry 
water in : it would merely have wetted his lips. What 
was to be done ? How was I to carry him a sufficient 
quantity of the life-giving elixir ? 
My boots ! Of course ; my Swedish waterproof boots. 
They were quite as good, quite as safe, as any other 
utensil. Plump they went into the pool. Then I threaded 
the spade-shaft through the straps, and carrying it like 
