that in one place where
a donga branched off I did not know which to follow. An intense feeling
of desolation took possession of me. Lost in a wilderness without food
or water! I thought of the twelve or thirteen men who got lost in this
wood on a hunting expedition, and of whom only one was saved. A great
fear came upon me. Gradually I became calmer, and tried to form some
plan of action. I resolved to keep to the left, where I had already seen
a solitary mountain. Perhaps water was to be found there.

My gun was loaded with Dum-Dum bullets, specially prepared for bucks. I
had filed through the steel to the lead, so that the bullet would expand
at once when it came into contact with bone. I found a buck tame in its
very wildness, but I missed it, for the aim of my gun, a fine sporting
Mauser, had been bent by the branches of the trees. It was a good thing
that I did not come across a lion, or, rather, that a lion did not come
across me.

I had to ride under trees, through shrubs and grass, and had to keep a
sharp look-out, as the king of beasts sometimes takes the lords of
creation unawares. And I had to look out for an opportunity to shoot a
buck--the only food within my reach. The nearer I came to the mountain,
the surer I was that I had lost my way completely, and the more I became
reconciled to my fate. I planned how I should build a large fire in the
night for myself and my horse, and how I should defend myself against a
lion with a burning piece of wood.

Suddenly my horse went faster and pushed to the left. Greatly to my
astonishment, I saw that the attraction was a little stream of water
that he had scented in a donga. I off-saddled, and let my horse graze in
the luxuriant grass.

Now I was strengthened in my belief that I had taken the wrong
direction, for we were all under the impression that we should not soon
reach water. I prepared some more Dum-Dum bullets with a small file that
I carried in my pocket, and did not let my horse graze long, but
hastened to the mountain to find a better shelter for the night. To my
great joy, I came upon the wide road about a thousand paces further on.
I followed the road along the mountain for half an hour, when I came
upon the lager, camped near a stream--probably the same stream at which
I and my horse had quenched our thirst.

As we sat round our fires that night we heard shots fired in the
distance from the direction that we had come. Some men were sent out
immedi