“‘What is it?’ I asked.

“‘It is the spears of Wambe’s impi, and they travel fast,’ she answered coolly.

“I suppose that my face showed how little I liked the news, for she went on—­

“’Fear not; they will stay to feast upon the elephants, and while they feast we shall journey.  We may yet escape.’

“After that we turned and pushed on again, till at length it grew so dark that we had to wait for the rising of the moon, which lost us time, though it gave us rest.  Fortunately none of the men had seen that ominous flashing of the spears; if they had, I doubt if even I could have kept control of them.  As it was, they travelled faster than I had ever known loaded natives to go before, so thorough-paced was their desire to see the last of Wambe’s country.  I, however, took the precaution to march last of all, fearing lest they should throw away their loads to lighten themselves, or, worse still, the tusks; for these kind of fellows would be capable of throwing anything away if their own skins were at stake.  If the pious AEneas, whose story you were reading to me the other night, had been a mongrel Delagoa Bay native, Anchises would have had a poor chance of getting out of Troy, that is, if he was known to have made a satisfactory will.

“At moonrise we set out again, and with short occasional halts travelled till dawn, when we were forced to rest and eat.  Starting once more, about half-past five, we crossed the river at noon.  Then began the long toilsome ascent through thick bush, the same in which I shot the bull buffalo, only some twenty miles to the west of that spot, and not more than twenty-five miles on the hither side of Wambe’s kraal.  There were six or seven miles of this dense bush, and hard work it was to get through it.  Next came a belt of scattered forest which was easier to pass, though, in revenge, the ground was steeper.  This was about two miles wide, and we passed it by about four in the afternoon.  Above this scattered bush lay a long steep slope of boulder-strewn ground, which ran up to the foot of the little peak some three miles away.  As we emerged, footsore and weary, on to this inhospitable plain, some of the men looking round caught sight of the spears of Wambe’s impi advancing rapidly not more than a mile behind us.

“At first there was a panic, and the bearers tried to throw off their loads and run, but I harangued them, calling out to them that certainly I would shoot the first man who did so and that if they would but trust in me I would bring them through the mess.  Now, ever since I had killed those three elephants single-handed, I had gained great influence over these men, and they listened to me.  So off we went as hard as ever we could go—­the members of the Alpine Club would not have been in it with us.  We made the boulders burn, as a Frenchman would say.