HAMMAR DELIRIOUS 
259 
murmuring water rang in his ears, like the bubbling of a brook, 
causing quite pleasant sensations, till we came up. The thirst 
had disappeared during the last half hour, and he only wanted 
peace—a sure symptom that he was near a crisis. The first 
water we gave him seemed nothing extraordinary, but a few 
minutes later his raging thirst returned with all its horror, and 
he felt inclined to grasp the calabash to empty it at a draught. 
Each mouthful of water I gave him seemed to increase the 
desire for more, and, if left alone, he would probably have 
swallowed sufficient to do himself an injury. 
It always was a matter of interest to me to think how far 
Hammar had actually travelled on this particular day. He had 
been on his feet for sixteen full hours, many of which he 
had put behind him at a run. He reckoned his devious course 
(from 11 to 6.30) had taken him sixteen miles in a direct line 
from camp, but he had travelled much more than this, making 
from one likely looking spot to another in a zig-zag direction, 
before deciding to listen for the signal shots. We came to 
the conclusion, that, coupled with the morning march, he must 
have covered between sixty and seventy miles without touch¬ 
ing a drop of water the whole distance, and this through 
sand. 
All night he kept on telling me his tale, drinking kettle 
after kettle of weak tea, in sips, until daylight, as if his thirst 
would never end. 
In the morning Hammar complained of his foot, from which 
I had a couple of years previously been obliged to amputate 
the big toe, which had been lacerated by a shot. We found 
the whole sole of the foot one large inflamed blister, which 
promised to be very refractory to treat, and would take a long 
time to heal. Under these circumstances it was advisable for 
Hammar to rest, and, requesting him to lie still, I went out 
shooting, and killed a solitary letzwee buck, grazing near the 
river, which, for the last ten miles, had been widening out into 
a reed-covered swamp like the Chobe, between two and four 
miles wide. On returning to camp I found that Hammar had 
