He Had Very Kindly Lent Me
This Old Companion Of His Sports, And I Had Entrusted It To Richarn As
My Most Careful Man:
Both man and gun were now lost.
Having vainly searched for two days, and my men having seen several
village dogs with their mouths and feet covered with blood, we came to
the conclusion that his body had been dragged into the grass jungle by
the natives, and there, concealed, it had been discovered and devoured
by the dogs.
No porters had arrived from Kamrasi, neither had any reply been sent to
the message I had forwarded by Eddrees; - the evening arrived, and,
much dispirited at the loss of my old servant, I lay down on my angarep
for the night. At about eight o'clock, in the stillness of our solitude,
my men asleep, with the exception of the sentry, we were startled by the
sound of a nogara at no great distance to the south of our huts. The two
natives who had remained with us immediately woke the men, and declared
that the drums we heard were those of the M'was, who were evidently
approaching our village; - the natives knew the peculiar sound of the
nogaras of the enemy, which were different to those of Kamrasi. This was
rather awkward - our ammunition was at Foweera, and we had no more than
the supply in our cartouche boxes, my men thirty rounds each, while I
carried in my pouch twenty-one. Our position was untenable, as the
drinking place was three miles distant. Again the nogara sounded, and
the native guides declared that they could not remain where we then
were, but they would conceal themselves in the high grass. My wife
proposed that we should forsake our luggage, and march at once for
Foweera and effect a junction with our men and ammunition before
daybreak. I was sure that it could not be less than twelve or thirteen
miles, and in her weak state it would be impossible for her to
accomplish the distance, through high grass, in darkness, over a rough
path, with the chance of the route being already occupied by the enemy.
However, she was determined to risk the march. I accordingly prepared to
start at 9 P.M., as at that time the moon would be about 30 degrees
above the horizon and would afford us a good light. I piled all the
luggage within the hut, packed our blankets in a canvas bag, to be
carried by one of the natives, and ordered one of our black women to
carry a jar of water. Thus provided, and forsaking all other effects, we
started at exactly nine o'clock, following our two natives as guides.
Our course was about E.N.E. The moon was bright, but the great height of
the grass shadowed the narrow path so that neither ruts nor stones were
visible. The dew was exceedingly heavy, and in brushing through the rank
vegetation we were soon wet to the skin. This was our first attempt at
walking a distance since many months, and being dreadfully out of
condition, I much feared that one of us might be attacked by fever
before we should have accomplished the march; at all events, there was
no alternative but to push ahead until we should reach Foweera, however
distant. We walked for about three hours along a narrow but
unmistakeable path, well trodden by the cattle and people that had
accompanied Kamrasi. Suddenly we arrived at a place where a path
diverged to the right, while another led to the left: the former was
much trodden by cattle, and the guides declared this to be the right
direction. Perfectly certain of their mistake, as Foweera lay to the
east, while such a course would lead us due south, I refused to follow,
and ordered the party to halt while I made a survey of the
neighbourhood. I shortly discovered in the bright moonlight that the
larger path to the south had been caused by the cattle that had been
driven in that direction, but had again returned by the same route. It
was evident that some village lay to the south, at which Kamrasi and his
army had slept, and that they had returned by the same path to the
Foweera main route on the following morning. I soon discovered cattle
tracks on the smaller path to the east: this I determined to follow. My
guides were of little use, and they confessed that they had only once
visited the Foweera country. We were bound for the principal village
that belonged to the chief Kalloe, an excellent man, who had frequently
visited us at Kisoona.
Not far from the branch roads we came suddenly upon a few huts, the
inmates of which were awake. They gave us the unpleasant intelligence
that the M'was occupied the country in advance, and that we should not
be able to pass them on our present route, as they were close to that
spot. It was now past midnight, the country was perfectly still, and
having no confidence in the guides I led the way.
About a mile from the huts that we had passed we suddenly observed the
light of numerous fires, and a great number of temporary huts formed of
green grass and plantain leaves: this was the camp of the M'was. I did
not observe any people, nor did we wait long in our present position,
but taking a path that led to the north, we quietly and stealthily
continued our march through walls of high grass, until in about an hour
we arrived in a totally different country. There was no longer the
dismal grass jungle in which a man was as much lost as a rabbit in a
field of corn, but beautiful park-like glades of rich and tender grass,
like an English meadow, stretched before us in the pale moonlight,
darkened in many places by the shadows of isolated trees and clumps of
forest.
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