ver circuitous a course they may
have travelled after quitting it, I paid no attention to the direction we
were moving in but followed Kaiber, who roamed from spot to spot in the
vain search of water; but we found not a drop. The same arid barren
country seemed spread on every side; and when at length I began
occasionally to stumble and fall from weakness hope abandoned me, and I
determined to return direct to my comrades and get them to make one more
effort to proceed and search for it in a southerly direction.

TREACHEROUS INTENTIONS OF KAIBER, THE NATIVE.

I therefore told Kaiber that such was my intention, and directed him to
guide me to the party. With apparent alacrity he obeyed my orders; but
after leading me about some time in an extraordinary manner he told me
that he had lost his way and could not find them. His look was so very
plausible when he said this, and he seemed so grieved at the
circumstance, that for a moment I believed his tale; but I felt convinced
that we could not be at any very great distance from them and therefore
fired one barrel of my gun; the echo of this sound, never heard in these
solitudes before, rang loudly through the woods, remoter distances caught
it up, and at length it gradually died away: anxiously did I now listen
for a repetition of the report, for I knew, were they within hearing, the
men would instantly fire again to acknowledge the signal I had made; but
minute after minute passed on and no answering signal struck my ear. I
sat down and applied my ear to the ground; every sense became absorbed in
the single one of hearing, but not the remotest sound that I could
distinguish broke the frightful solitude of these vast woods. I remained
seated on the ground for a few minutes, still hearing no answer to my
shot, till the conviction gradually forced itself on my mind that the
native had been leading me astray. Only two cases could have occurred:
either he had done so purposely, for he could not, by any accidental
mistake, have taken me to such a distance as to prevent the party in
these silent woods hearing the report of my gun, or otherwise the men had
of themselves moved away from the place where I had left them. But I felt
assured that this latter supposition was not correct, for ever since I
quitted the other portion of the party I had maintained so strict a
discipline that no man ever separated from the rest without my
permission; indeed I had increased my strictness in the