REPULSE THE NATIVES 
175 
shouting of the natives, that they were congregating somewhere 
ahead, probably in some favourable spot to ambush us. We 
made straight out, west by south, into a long sand-belt, keeping 
close together, Hammar and I each with two-hundred and 
seventy-five rounds of ammunition on our persons, to do the 
best we could with, if called upon to take action, and also to 
personally have a supply of cartridges to see us back to Panda 
Matenga, in case the emergency required it. Hammar carried 
a large calabash of water, as we did not know when or where 
next we would get a drink, and I had my knapsack, purposely 
brought for use in the event of occasions such as this, stuffed 
with many articles that would otherwise have been left behind. 
There were one and a half bags of small shot, thirty-two four- 
ounce bullets, two-hundred rounds Martini-Henry ammunition, 
a pair of boots, my telescope, and some small odds and ends 
stowed in this bag; besides this, I carried my rifle, and seventy- 
five rounds of ammunition in my cartridge belt. 
We had gone about three miles, when some of the natives, 
who had followed us up again, shouted to our boys to drop the 
loads and run, otherwise they would get into trouble; but on 
Hammar and myself firing at them from the rear, they moved 
off, still warning our boys to do as they were advised. 
Our great anxiety was about water, as we did not wish to 
go towards the Liana river to get a supply, and, none of us 
knowing the topography, we might pass within a few hundred 
yards of a pan, and never be aware of its existence in this bush 
country. Luck favoured us, however, for, after going some four 
miles, we saw the figure of an old woman, evidently gathering 
fruit from the ground, as she frequently stooped and picked up 
something, which she deposited in a basket tied on her back. She 
was deeply engrossed in this employment, under some gigantic 
mabula trees growing on our left, without having the faintest 
notion of our presence. Two of our boys stalked up to the 
old dame, who proved to be a Mosaro bushwoman. She was 
intensely startled at our appearance, and hardly able to speak, 
and it is probably owing to the fright she got that she directed 
