xxx A FEW THRILLS AT BANGALLA RIVER 
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shreds, crunching the pole in his powerful jaws, and 
finally flinging the unrecognisable remains of the 
offending object aside. He had, in all probability, 
scented the odour of human beings from the 
maschilla and mistaken it for some portion, or 
strange species, of the living individual—at least, 
this is the only explanation of this curious incident 
that occurs to me. 
We had now been fifteen days in the pori, and as 
our food supply was running low, and we had 
temporarily had our fill of adventure, I decided to 
return to camp for a few days’ rest. On our arrival, 
we found that Makakora, whose ankle was now 
quite well again, was eager to return at once to his 
home. He gave as reason for this sudden desire to 
leave us, that he was afraid of the village headman, 
Karanji, bewitching him ; for, some years ago, he had 
eloped with Karanji’s favourite wife, and Karanji, as 
he explained in a luminous phrase, now loved him 
as he would a snake. Under the circumstances, it 
behoved him to make himself scarce, for death by 
poison or violence would certainly be the price of a 
lengthier stay in the neighbourhood. He further 
informed us that he had decided to plunge into the 
forest and only converge on the direct homeward 
path some miles from the village, because he feared 
that Karanji, having become acquainted with his 
intention to depart, might have arranged poisoned 
