In Afric’s Forest and Jungle 
have saved them. They had not only been 
greatly frightened, but had nearly smothered 
themselves in trying to hide. 
It was not long before they had to crawl back 
to cover, for we saw men with guns running 
along the bank of the river in the edge of the 
forest. They were evidently hastening to reach 
a point where the swift current would carry us 
close to land, but when we swept past this place, 
we neither saw nor heard anything of them 
again. But I would not like to say how fast my 
heart beat, as we darted by the dangerous point. 
What they were after, 1 never found out. It was 
another unsolved mystery like the incident in the 
Ebaddan forest at Lahlookpon. 
About sundown we came to a little village in¬ 
habited by a people called the Parraquoi. Think¬ 
ing that we were now out of the dangerous dis¬ 
trict, I stopped here to salute the chief and to 
request permission to pass the night at his town. 
The landing-place was a strip of cleared ground 
and to the right was a very tall bluff on which 
the village was situated. I sent my messenger 
up to this village to call the chief, and while I was 
waiting for him, a man in a soldier’s dress came 
out of the forest and dipped up a bucket of 
water. While doing this he closely inspected the 
270 
