ld the Wahimas go with us to the sea, if I promised them a big
quantity of percale, beads, and rifles?"

"Kali goes and the Wahimas also, but the great master would first have
to subdue the Samburus, who are settled on the other side of the water."

"And who lives beyond the Samburus?"

"Beyond the Samburus there are no mountains, and there is a jungle, and
in it lions."

With this the conversation ended. Stas more and more frequently thought
of the great journey towards the east, remembering that Linde had said
that they might meet coast Arabs trading in ivory, and perhaps a
missionary expedition. He knew that such a journey would be a series of
terrible hardships for Nell and full of new dangers, but he realized
that they could not remain all their lives on Mount Linde and it was
necessary to start soon on the journey. The time, after the rainy
season, when water covers the pestilential swamps, and is to be found
everywhere, was the most suitable for the purpose. The heat could not
yet be felt on the high table-land; the nights were so cool still that
it was necessary to be well covered. But in the jungle below it was
considerably hotter, and he knew well that intense heat would soon
come. The rain now seldom bedewed the earth and the water level in the
river lowered daily. Stas assumed that in summer the river would change
into one of those "khors," of which he saw many in the Libyan Desert,
and that only in the very middle of it would flow a narrow stream of
water.

Nevertheless, he postponed the departure from day to day. On Mount
Linde it was so well with all, themselves as well as the animals! Nell
not only was rid of the fever but of anaemia also; Stas' head never
ached; Kali's and Mea's skins began to shine like black satin; Nasibu
looked like a melon walking on thin legs, and the King, no less than
the horses and the donkey, grew fat. Stas well knew that they would not
until the end of the journey find another island like this amidst the
jungle sea. And he viewed the future with fear; moreover, they had in
the King great assistance and in case of necessity a defense.

Thus a week more elapsed before they commenced preparations for the
journey. In moments free from packing their effects they did not cease,
however, to send out kites with the announcement that they were going
eastward towards some lake, and towards the ocean. They continued to
fly them because they were favored by a strong western wind, re