30 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
saves a great deal of time, especially when an early 
start is necessary and one’s coffee is getting cold, which 
ours nearly did this time, as we were very tired and 
sore from yesterday’s exertion. Half an hour’s walk, 
however, along the banks of the river dissipated all our 
aches, and we were all on the alert, gun in hand, for 
doves, rock-pigeons, and pheasants. A large hare 
sprang out from under Lulu’s feet and ran between the 
legs of our Teuton friend, “ I’ll-vatch-it,” who, true to 
his favourite expression, as quick as thought killed it 
with a stick. 
Our plan was not to cross any of the branches of the 
river at all, but to follow the right bank of the outer- 
most stream, and trace it to the point where it joined 
its sister streams at the general gathering of the waters 
below. So hanging puss up in a thick bush to keep the 
vultures away from it, and taking the feathered game 
with us for our dinner, we kept steadily on. The 
walking was smooth compared to what it was on the 
other side of the stream : now and then a small ravine, 
with a dry watercourse that in wet seasons drained the 
mountains in the distance, crossed our path at right 
angles, forming here and there pretty glades and glens, 
partially clothed in dark-green foliage. 
Presently hearing the roar of a rapid, as the water 
dashed itself against the grey rocks, we hurried forward, 
thinking we were near the spot where the river made 
the downward leap ; but as yet there was no sign that 
we had reached the point of junction with the main 
stream. A little further on, Lulu, who was close to the 
banks, shouted, — - 
“ There’s no more river. It has disappeared.” 
There was a big pool, dammed up by a ledge of 
barren rocks, but here the river came to an abrupt end. 
No bend, no turn, no continuation whatever. After 
careful search we could not find the marks showing 
where the water overflowed when the pool became full 
to the brim during the rainy season, and on going some 
distance below this ledge we discovered that the water 
had a subterranean outlet from the pool through a cleft 
