256 
THE NEW AFRICA 
sensation that I would gladly have made any sacrifice to see 
the weatherbeaten figure of my companion come striding into 
camp. 
Franz sat by the fire like a bird of evil omen, croaking 
his fears aloud, till, almost maddened, I harshly ordered him to 
hold his tongue under penalty of a good flogging. 
Meanwhile Springkant had quietly loaded his gun on his 
own account with a heavy extra charge, in his anxiety to help 
his master, and, although his shoulder ached again, he bravely 
came to ask me whether the time was not ripe for the shot 
to be fired. It was just time. He put the gun up, and pulled, 
when the violent recoil of the overcharged gun sent him 
spinning on his back, and the gun flying on to the sand several 
yards behind him. But before he could pick himself up, joy 
of joys ! we heard three shots fired in rapid succession about two 
miles out. Grasping my gun and singing out to Child to bring 
a big calabash of water along, I rushed off in the direction of 
the shots, and soon was delighted to see a fire blazing in the 
distance, to which I hurried as fast as my legs could go.- There 
lay Hammar, thank God, by the fire, prostrate from exhaustion, 
so utterly done that he could not put one foot before the other, 
it is true, but still Hammar alive. The boys came rushing up 
shouting with joy, as their fears had been of the worst, and then, 
giving him a small drink of water as a preliminary, we carried him 
into camp. Hammar’s first words were, ‘ Have you wound the 
chronometer V No, I had not, and on reaching the camp we 
found that it had stopped. With small doses of weak tea I 
nursed him back to a more vigorous state, and then gave him 
sparingly of a roasted guinea-fowl, the only food we had. His 
face looked like a piece of wood, and was so pinched and dried 
up that a casual acquaintance would never have recognised him, 
and it was several days before he regained his usual appearance, 
hard and weatherbeaten as it was. As soon as Hammar was 
sufficiently recovered, a great excitement came over him, and 
he related with minute detail the story of his wandering, 
