Another elephant-hunter was to be sent to us in
the place of Jali, but I felt that we had lost our best man.
CHAPTER IX.
Fright of the Tokrooris - Deserters who didn't desert - Arrival of the
Sherrif brothers - Now for a tally-ho! - On the heels of the
rhinoceroses - The Abyssinian rhinoceros - Every man for himself.
Although my people had been in the highest spirits up to this time, a
gloom had been thrown over the party by two causes - Jali's accident and
the fresh footmarks of the Bas-e that had been discovered upon the sand
by the margin of the river. The aggageers feared nothing, and if the
Bas-e had been legions of demons they would have faced them, sword in
hand, with the greatest pleasure. But my Tokrooris, who were brave in
some respects, had been so cowed by the horrible stories recounted of
these common enemies at the nightly camp-fires by the Hamran Arabs, that
they were seized with panic and resolved to desert en masse and return
to Katariff, where I had originally engaged them, and at which place
they had left their families.
In this instance the desertion of my Tokrooris would have been a great
blow to my expedition, as it was necessary to have a division of
parties.
