READY TO CROSS THE RIVER 
239 
cure them from. Recollections of Van Zyl’s scoundrelly servant 
did not explain the matter either, for he was blown up with the 
general wreck of the explosion. There was nothing for it but 
to wait till we got over to solve the question; so, putting all the 
most valuable articles, carefully distributed with regard to the 
balance, etc., into the canoe, we arranged that I should cross 
over first in company with Franz, while Hammar, who kept his 
blankets and five hundred rounds of ammunition with four 
guns, should remain behind, and in the event of anything going 
wrong with me while crossing was to follow the left bank of the 
Cubango to the junction of the -overflow into the Chobe with 
the remaining boys, and make his way to Panda Matenga. 
The two canoe men watched our proceedings impatiently, 
and appeared anxious to be off, a fact that caused the last 
remnant of spirit to desert the miserable Franz, who flatly 
refused to accompany me in the canoe, and started bemoaning 
and bewailing his fate with an ashen-grey colour under his 
yellow complexion that showed he was quite demoralised. 
Upbraiding him for his cowardice, I called on the boys to give 
him an example, but fear is contagious, and the clothed men on 
the other side were a factor not in their previous reckoning; so, 
instead of jumping up, one and all, to volunteer as I expected, 
they avoided looking me in the face, so that I should not call 
one by name, and remained silent. For this I blame them not 
at all. It was not their place to take the lead : they had come 
together from one kraal or country, and the possibility of being 
led back by Hammar to where they had started from was too 
alluring a picture, thrown into the balance against the dark 
possibilities of the attempt to cross the river. Foiled in this, 
I called them each by name, and when I came to Chiki he 
started as if electrified, jumped up, and then sat down again 
with his head between his knees, and murmured that he, like 
the rest of them, had promised to remain with his mates. I 
could see that it cost him a hard battle to refuse me, and knew 
that at my second bidding he would come, but I rejected the 
strain of testing him too severely. 
