XIV 
RETURN TO LAKE RUDOLPH 
327 
explained, within a short distance of Labugo’s large stockaded 
village. His people had recently been successful in routing 
a neighbouring section of their tribe which had attacked them, 
and had afterwards burnt the villages of the aggressors and 
captured their cattle, and were exultant and inclined to be 
boastful; and as I lay during those long weary nights of 
suffering, unable to sleep, I used to listen to them singing and 
dancing half the night and fear lest they might be tempted by 
my own helpless condition and the smallness of my little party 
to think our belongings would be an easy prey. But they 
never molested us nor stole a thing all the time we were there. 
Their weird and rather tuneful singing, mellowed by the inter¬ 
vening distance, was in itself rather pleasant and helped to 
pass the dragging hours ; and I always felt grateful for the 
commotion heralding the earliest streaks of dawn, as the 
inhabitants bestirred themselves preparatory to hieing to their 
fields, before the birds began their forays on the heavy red 
clusters of ripening grain. Then as the light began to come 
I would be put outside on my camp chair, while the air was 
yet comparatively cool, to watch the wedges and undulating 
lines of storks and pelicans winging their way across the placid 
sky—against whose pale, greenish blue background, lit up with 
faint streaks of crimson, their rhythmically gliding forms stood 
out, though below it was still dusk—before the fiery sun should 
make all one glare, up or down the river as they changed their 
feeding-grounds between the various small lakes near its course. 
The days were less tedious than the dreaded nights. 
Among other sources of distraction I used often to question 
Hamisi about his experiences among the people of Kere. He 
described to me the battle, before alluded to, in which he had 
taken part. All the inhabitants were collected in the town 
on the news being brought in by a woman of the approach of 
the attacking force. The fighting men, armed for the fray, 
waited till the enemy, advancing in battle array, were within 
a stone’s throw of their gates ; then, having proclaimed to 
