XXXVI 
THE HUNTER’S END 
3i3 
trip. As it was the rainy season, and an exception¬ 
ally wet one at that, his friends at the Lake advised 
him to postpone his safari until the rains had 
ceased, but Watkinson was not to be persuaded, 
and so went forth on his last shoot. 
Four months later, three diseased and emaciated 
men arrived at the Lake : they were Watkinson’s 
two boys and gun-bearer. Depending for food on 
what they could- kill, and covered with sores owing 
to the privations they had suffered, they had made 
their way through a hostile country and at length 
managed to reach Matengula, bringing back in 
safety their master’s guns, a few personal belong¬ 
ings, and his diary. In the diary was a portrait of 
his mother. 
After leaving the Lake shore, Watkinson and 
his party had travelled for some ten days through 
an uninhabited and foodless forest between the 
Msinjie and Lujenda Rivers, where, at the time, I 
had been hunting for about two years, and, during 
this portion of his journey, his carriers had basely 
deserted, leaving him and his two companions 
to fare as best they could. Having put all 
the loads that they were unable to carry, up in 
trees, where they would be secure from the atten¬ 
tions of wild animals, they had plodded slowly 
on. Judging from the painfully brief entries 
in his diary, Watkinson was now in a very weak 
