Across This Ford The
Women Of The Village Daily Passed To Collect Their Faggots Of
Wood From The Bushes On The Opposite Side.
I had shot a
crocodile, and a marabou stork, and I was carefully plucking the
plume of beautiful feathers
From the tail of the bird, surrounded
by a number of Arabs, when I observed a throng of women, each
laden with a bundle of wood, crossing the ford in single file
from the opposite bank. Among them were two young girls of about
fifteen, and I remarked that these, instead of marching in a line
with the women, were wading hand-in-hand in dangerous proximity
to the head of the rapids. A few seconds later, I noticed that
they were inclining their bodies up stream, and were evidently
struggling with the current. Hardly had I pointed out the danger
to the men around me, when the girls clung to each other, and
striving against their fate they tottered down the stream towards
the rapids, which rushed with such violence that the waves were
about two feet high. With praiseworthy speed the Arabs started to
their feet, and dashed down the deep descent towards the river,
but before they had reached half way, the girls uttered a shriek,
lost their footing, and in another instant they threw their arms
wildly above their heads, and were hurried away in the foam of
the rapids. One disappeared immediately; the other was visible,
as her long black hair floated on the surface; she also sank.
Presently, about twenty yards below the spot, a pair of naked
arms protruded high above the surface, with ivory bracelets upon
the wrists, and twice the hands clapped together as though
imploring help; again she disappeared.
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