DEATH OF FRENCH 
99 
had made to sleep on, and footmarks denoting his departure, 
evidently driven on by thirst. Arguing that it was a fruitless 
task to follow a flying man in the dark, Selous returned to camp 
and waited for tidings of French, as he got no answer to his 
signal-shots, fired in the hope that French was within hearing. 
Franz relates that next morning they distinctly heard a shot 
fired by French about three miles off; and, thinking that now 
so close to camp he was sure of his whereabouts, especially 
as good boys accompanied him, felt satisfied that he was coming 
home, and gave no answering signals. French, however, not 
arriving, towards afternoon they went to the spot where the 
shot came from in the morning, and found a dead giraffe, whose 
stomach French had cut out to allay his thirst by sucking the 
contents, usually very moist, and a good substitute for water 
in extremes. However, they could only see his tracks in the 
sand, and judge, by the enormous strides he had taken, that 
they indicated he had gone off in a great hurry ‘ past the camp.’ 
After several days his boys arrived at camp, very emaciated, 
carrying his gun, with the news that he had died of thirst about 
four o’clock in the afternoon of the day he shot the giraffe. 
He had walked on and on, listening to no advice, and turning 
angrily on the boys when they told him he was going wrong; 
and even when he shot the giraffe, and they pointed out the 
direction of the camp, hoping he would listen to reason, he told 
them to hold their tongues. As soon as he had sucked the 
stomach fluid dry, he made off in a different direction, and they 
followed him in great tribulation, also suffering severely from 
thirst. At last he dropped, and blood came from his mouth. 
He took out his pocket-knife, and scratched something on the 
stock of his gun, which he told them to take to the white man 
at the camp, and also gave them his watch to take care of. 
They waited a short time by him, and then, turning over in the 
sand, they said, he died, after which they left him. They made 
for the river, which they reached utterly exhausted, and rested 
until they were strong enough to come to the camp. The 
watch they left with the corpse, because it frightened them 
