them, that he could follow no
farther. In this fix the twenty men came up with him, but not until they
had had a scrimmage with the "savages," had secured four, and taken the
spear which had been thrown at them. Of the mule's position no one
could give an opinion, save that they imagined, in consequence of the
thickness of the bush, he would soon become irretrievably entangled in
the thicket, where the savages would find him, and bring him in as a
ransom for the prisoners.

What with the diminution of our supplies, the famished state of the
country, and the difficulties which frowned upon us in advance, together
with unwillingness to give up so good a mule, with all its gear and
ammunition, I must say I felt doubtful as to what had better be done,
until the corporal, who felt confident he would find the beast, begged
so hard that I sent him in command of another expedition of sixteen men,
ordering him to take one of the prisoners with him to proclaim to his
brethren that we would give up the rest if they returned us the mule.
The corporal then led off his band to the spot where he last saw traces
of the animal, and tracked on till sundown; while Grant and myself went
out pot-hunting and brought home a bag consisting of one striped
eland, one saltiana antelope, four guinea-fowl, four ringdoves, and one
partridge--a welcome supply, considering we were quite out of flesh.

Next day, as there were no signs of the trackers, I went again to the
place of the elands, wounded a fine male, but gave up the chase, as I
heard the unmistakable gun-firing return of the party, and straightway
proceeded to camp. Sure enough, there they were; they had tracked the
animal back to Marenga Mkhali, through jungle--for he had not taken to
the footpath. Then finding he had gone on, they returned quite tired
and famished. To make the most of a bad job, I now sent Grant on to the
Robeho (or windy) Pass, on the top of the western chain, with the mules
and heavy baggage, and directions to proceed thence across the brow of
the hill the following morning, while I remained behind with the tired
men, promising to join him by breakfast-time. I next released the
prisoners, much to their disgust, for they had not known such good
feeding before, and dreaded being turned adrift again in the jungles to
live on calabash seeds; and then, after shooting six guinea-fowl, turned
in for the night.

Betimes in the morning we were off, mounting the Robeho, a good