“Of course this was absurd on their part, although very aggravating; so to stop any more hard words and argufying in the matter, I suggested that as there was nothing to be gained by our remaining any longer in the vicinity of the bay where we had first come ashore, we had better start off at once on our journey to Majunga while we were fresh in the early morning, before the sun got high in the heavens to enervate us with its scorching heat.
“This motion was carried, with one or two dissentients, and we accordingly at once started off due south, as nearly as I could calculate by the position of the sun and sea, making our way through the stiff jungle up the side of the mountain that spurted right across our course in that direction, the way getting steeper and steeper each step that we took forwards, and the jungle thicker and more dense.
“Gracious goodness! what a climb that was! Up and up we struggled and toiled, perspiring all the way and gasping with heat and thirst. We tore all the skin off our arms and legs in forcing ourselves through the prickly patches of jungle, and almost splintered our feet against the rocks and gnarled roots of some of the trees, besides bruising our bodies all over with the repeated falls we had; and, all the while, we were suffering the most unmitigated pangs of hunger and thirst that mortal man could experience when in full strength.
“To add, too, to the misery of the toilsome journey, we could hardly see an inch before us, although the sun took right good care to blaze down right immediately over our heads through the tops of the trees. We could only tell we were ascending from the extra fatigue it entailed in lifting our weary feet in stepping upwards; and although we climbed up several trees that looked taller than the rest near, so that we might better observe our whereabouts, when perchance we might discover some welcome oasis in sight in the midst of this desert of green, not a single yard could we see beyond the tree tops immediately near, which closed in the view completely—the only break apparent being the intense glaring blue of the burning sky just overhead, with its molten coppery disc of a sun darting down fiery rays from the zenith.
“At last, when every man Jack of us felt that he could not proceed a single step beyond if we had any more climbing to do, the ground suddenly began to descend, telling us that we had reached the slope that led into the next valley.
“This put fresh life into us and made us press onwards with renewed vigour, everyone hoping that, as soon as we got to the bottom of the declivity, we would reach one of those rivers which, as I had told the men, emptied themselves from the west coast of Madagascar into the Mozambique Channel—buoying up their drooping energies whenever they appeared to falter on their toilsome way by holding out this dream to them, for I believed in it fully myself.
“It was but a futile hope, however; and one, too, that was doubly disappointing.
“On getting to the lower part of the hill, something was seen shining through the trees, like as the sea had been observed shimmering in the sun on the other side of the mountain, but this now evidently could not be any portion of the Indian Ocean or Mozambique Channel, from the direction we had been proceeding in since the morning?
“No, it could not be the sea.
“It could be nothing else, thought the men, than the much-longed-for river which I had led them shortly to expect to see in sight; so, with a glad cheer they rushed between the trunks and branches of the intervening trees in mad, hot haste to quench their thirst in the cooling stream.