On One Occasion While
I Was In The Country A British Officer Had A Very
Lucky Escape.
He was filling his water bottle
at the river, when one of these brutes caught
him by the hand and attempted to draw him
in.
Fortunately one of his servants rushed to
his assistance and managed to pull him out of
the crocodile's clutches with the loss only of two
of his fingers.
As we made our way up the Sabaki, we
discovered a beautiful waterfall about a hundred
and fifty feet high - not a sheer drop, but a series
of cascades. At this time the river was in low
water, and the falls consequently did not look their
best; but in flood time they form a fine sight,
and the thunder of the falling water can then be
plainly heard at Tsavo, over seven miles away,
when the wind is in the right direction. We
crossed the river on the rocks at the head of
these falls, and after some hours' hard marching
reached camp without further incident.
CHAPTER XIV
THE FINDING OF THE MAN-EATERS' DEN
There were some rocky-looking hills lying to
the south-west of Tsavo which I was particularly
anxious to explore, so on one occasion when
work had been stopped for the day owing to
lack of material, I set off for them, accompanied
by Mahina and a Punjaubi coolie, who was so
stout that he went by the name of Moota
(i.e. "Fattie"). In the course of my little
excursions round Tsavo I gradually discovered
that I was nearly always able to make my way
to any required point of the compass by following
certain well-defined animal paths, which I mapped
out bit by bit during my explorations. On this
occasion, for instance, as soon as we had crossed
the river and had struck into the jungle, we were
fortunate enough to find a rhino path leading in
the right direction, which greatly facilitated our
progress. As we were making our way along
this path through the dry bed of a nullah, I
happened to notice that the sandy bottom sparkled
here and there where the sunbeams penetrated
the dense foliage. This at once filled my head
with thoughts of precious stones, and as the spot
looked likely enough, I started to dig vigorously at
the gravel with my hunting knife. After a few
minutes of this work, I came across what I at first
took to be a magnificent diamond sparkling in
the damp sand: it was about half an inch long,
and its facets looked as if they had been cut
by an Amsterdam expert. I tested the stone
on my watch glass and found that it cut my
initials quite easily, and though I knew that
quartz would do this as well, it did not seem
to me to have either the general appearance or
angles of any quartz I had ever seen. For a
moment or two I was greatly delighted with my
discovery, and began to have rosy dreams of a
diamond mine; but I am sorry to say that on
closer examination and testing I was forced to
the conclusion that my find was not a diamond,
though unlike any other mineral I had ever come
across.
My hopes of rapidly becoming a millionaire
having thus been dashed to the ground, we
proceeded on our way, getting further and further
into the depths of a gloomy forest. A little
distance on, I noticed through a break in the
trees a huge rhino standing in full view near the
edge of a ravine. Unfortunately he caught sight
of us as well, and before I could take aim, he
snorted loudly and crashed off through the tangled
undergrowth. As I followed up this ravine,
walking stealthily along in the delightful shade of
the overhanging palms, I observed on my left
a little nullah which opened out of the main
channel through a confused mass of jungle and
creeper. Through this tangle there was a
well-defined archway, doubtless made by the regular
passage of rhino and hippo, so I decided to
enter and explore what lay beyond. I had not
gone very far when I came upon a big bay
scooped out of the bank by the stream when in
flood and carpeted with a deposit of fine, soft
sand, in which were the indistinct tracks of
numberless animals. In one corner of this bay,
close under an overhanging tree, stood a little
sandy hillock, and on looking over the top of
this I saw on the other side a fearsome-looking
cave which seemed to run back for a considerable
distance under the rocky bank. Round the
entrance and inside the cavern I was
thunderstruck to find a number of human bones, with
here and there a copper bangle such as the natives
wear. Beyond all doubt, the man-eaters' den!
In this manner, and quite by accident, I stumbled
upon the lair of these once-dreaded "demons",
which I had spent so many days searching
for through the exasperating and interminable
jungle during the time when they terrorised
Tsavo. I had no inclination to explore the
gloomy depths of the interior, but thinking that
there might possibly still be a lioness or cub
inside, I fired a shot or two into the cavern
through a hole in the roof. Save for a swarm of
bats, nothing came out; and after taking a
photograph of the cave, I gladly left the horrible
spot, thankful that the savage and insatiable
brutes which once inhabited it were no longer at
large.
Retracing my steps to the main ravine, I
continued my journey along it. After a little
while I fancied I saw a hippo among some tall
rushes growing on the bank, and quickly signed
to Mahina and Moota to stay perfectly still. I
then made a careful stalk, only to discover, after
all my trouble, that my eyes had deceived me
and made me imagine a black bank and a few
rushes to be a living animal.
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