276 
THE KILIMA NJARO EXPEDITION. 
searching tlie sheltered hollow, that it was deserted 
and abandoned ! I hesitated but little. Sooner than 
remain there without blankets, food, or fire, I would 
endeavour to regain my station, even though I had to 
wander all night on the lonely flanks of the mountain; 
so starting off in the waning daylight, I hurried over 
the now easy descent at a pace that soon quickened 
into an irregular run. I crossed the stream at the 
well-remembered ford; and cheered with the sight of 
old landmarks, and warmed with the violent exercise, 
I marched straight on in the direction of my little 
village. The mists dispersed, the moon shone out 
brightly, I could clearly distinguish familiar hill-tops, 
and on reaching once more the banks of my own river, 
I then had an unfailing guide to follow until the 
glimmering watch-fires of my settlement glanced out 
from our bushy stockade, and the loud voices of men 
broke the still and frosty air. As I stepped in through 
the palisade, and appeared before my almost terror- 
stricken men, I saw I was at first taken for my own 
ghost, but when I had spoken a few sentences in a 
very real and energetic tone to the three culprits who 
had deserted me, the other men crowded round me in 
an ecstasy of joy, kissing my hands, patting me all 
over to assure themselves that I was back in the flesh, 
and assuring me that if I had taken them , they would 
never have left me to perish in the snowy solitudes 
above—no ! not if the Demon of the Mountain had 
appeared visibly in all his terrors to confront them. 
It appeared that my three followers had remained for 
about an hour in the place I had left them, and then 
seeing I did not return, had been seized with an irre¬ 
sistible panic, had caught up their loads, and had 
returned helter-skelter to the station. Fortunately 
