148 
IN AFRICA 
camp, get a guide, and then push on to the elephant 
camp, where he hoped to arrive by ten o’clock at 
night. He would then be in time to help with the 
skinning, which we expected would he continued 
throughout the entire night. Kermit stopped at his 
own camp and gave Clark a guide for the rest of 
the journey, after which he went to bed. 
At eleven o’clock the sound of firing was heard 
some place off in the darkness. The night guard of 
the Roosevelt camp, rightly construing it to be a 
signal, answered it with a shot, and, guided by the 
latter, Clark and his party of salt-laden porters 
once more appeared. They had traveled in a circle 
for three hours and were hopelessly lost. Kermit 
was routed out and again supplied more guides— 
also a compass and also the direction to follow. 
Unfortunately he made a mistake and said north¬ 
west instead of southeast—otherwise his directions 
were perfect. 
For three hours more Clark and his porters went 
humping through the night, stumbling through the 
long grass and falling into hidden holes. The 
porters began to he mutinous and the guides were 
thoroughly and hopelessly lost. It was then that 
they one and all laid down in the tall grass, made 
a fire to keep the lions and leopards away, and 
slept soundly until daylight. Even then the situa¬ 
tion was little better, for the guides were still at sea. 
About the time that Clark decided to return to the 
river, miles away, and take a fresh start, he fired 
a shot in the forlorn hope of getting a response 
