At daylight the following morning we loaded our canoe with my outfit, Rogala carrying my "precious box." Rotembo and his people followed us to the shore, and when we were ready to start, in a loud voice Rotembo invoked the spirits of his ancestors, Kombe and others, to follow me. After we had left I saw him seated on the ground before his little idol, talking to it. The last words we heard from him were: "Rogala, take good care of the Oguizi. Good-bye, Oguizi;" and after passing a bend of the river we lost sight of the village.
The prow of our canoe was a carved crocodile head with an open mouth holding a man between its jaws.
Ndova and Andekko had been tied near it. Ndova uttered the peculiar intonation meaning pleasure. Andekko was wagging his tail and looking at Rogala. Both seemed to know that they were going home.
During the day we saw swimming in the stream a number of elephants. They were playing and throwing water high into the air with their trunks. They swam hither and thither, and as we came nearer we saw that each elephant had a little baby elephant apparently standing on the back of its mother. Rogala was in a state of great excitement; he wanted to land and walk along the banks of the river and have a shot at the elephants. "No," said I, "each of these elephants has a little one to care for."
Further on we saw in the distance, near the other bank of the river, two canoes descending the stream. They were full of men in war-paint and armed with spears and war-axes. They were singing their war-songs and beating their tomtoms fiercely. Rogala's face became anxious. I asked who they were.
"I do not know, Oguizi," he replied.
Instantly we laid hands upon our guns ready to fight, but when we were near enough to hear the warriors' song of victory, Rogala recognized that they belonged to the clan of Rotembo. But we were paddling so near the banks of the river that they did not see us.
Towards evening Rogala, pointing to a spot near the river, said: "Oguizi, this is a place where I camp for the night when I am on the river. Close by is a beautiful little spring of clear water coming out of the earth, cool and delicious to drink. We never drink the water from running rivers when we can help it."
I answered: "All right, Rogala; we will camp where you say."