404 
ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA 
CHAP. 
not going back the way they came nor heading for some part 
they know, as would other animals, but becoming hopelessly 
lost. On the other hand, they never stray gratuitously, and in 
this way are infinitely less trouble. Indeed they are rather a 
nuisance from the perversity with which they persist in poking 
about inside the camp and getting among one’s tent-ropes. 
The day after the siege of our camp had thus been raised, 
by the death of the last of the besiegers, Abdulla returned from 
Mthara. He was evidently proud of having had no casualties 
among his donkeys in passing through the district where lions 
were numerous, across the Gwaso Nyiro, and believed this 
immunity to be due to a charm which he possessed. Though 
too polite to express his feelings in words, his self-satisfied smile 
was indicative of conscious superiority in this particular respect. 
He left again a day or two later, with the first instalment of 
ivory for Ukambani, where it was to be deposited at Mtiya’s. 
It was not till some days later, though, that the men with my 
mail, which had been fetched from the German mission station 
at the coastward end of the above country, arrived. 
I had, of course, had no letters or papers, nor any com¬ 
munication with the outside world, since I had passed through 
there just about a year before ; and it may be imagined how 
anxiously I looked forward to getting news, especially after 
being laid up so long with nothing to read. It was, then, a 
joyful moment when I heard one of the men exclaim that the 
long-expected messengers with the mail were close by, and a 
glad sight to see Squareface come round the corner, followed 
by his mates, and deposit a sackful of letters and papers at my 
feet. But, as often happens in such cases, the realisation does 
not bear out the anticipation. After reading hard half the 
night, one’s head, now so unaccustomed to this form of excite¬ 
ment, gets in a whirl, which prevents much sleep during the 
■other half, with headache to follow next day. Moreover, I have 
generally found that letters that have been waited for so long, 
and so much looked forward to, are to a large extent dis- 
