CHAPTER X 
EXCURSIONS FROM EL BOGOI ( continued) 
A native duel—An offended guide—Camp by Mreya spring—Signs of elephants—A 
wrong action—Dearth of water—Deemed a benefactor—Lions disturbed—A 
chance lost—Spot for a mission station—Replenishing the larder—Back to El 
Bogoi—A faithful headman—A remorse of conscience—A great disappointment 
—An Ndorobo camp—News of an elephant preserve—Starvation times—Man- 
eating lions. 
It was agreeable to get back to my comfortable homelike camp 
here, with its pleasant shade and little cool stream ; especially 
as I had run out of salt while away, and did not find the saline 
deposit I got off the dried-up mud about the salt marshes a 
satisfactory substitute—it tasted more like Epsom salts ! There 
was no news of Abdulla and the caravan yet. They had been 
gone now about forty days ; and, though I did not exactly feel 
anxious, I wished I could know they were safe. Baithai had 
accompanied me back and had brought a young fellow with 
him who had received some nasty spear-wounds in a fight 
with a friend. I doctored his gashes, and he told me, in the 
cheeriest way, that he had killed his antagonist. They did not 
seem to think this a matter of any moment. Another Ndorobo 
was sent to take word to Lesiat of my return. 
I was pretty well occupied, the day after my return, weigh¬ 
ing and entering in my note-book all the ivory, and burying 
it in a big hole close to the door of the hut in which the goods 
were stored, and with other matters that had to be attended to. 
A day in camp was not unwelcome; for I was suffering from 
