We returned to the camp with our prize, and by daylight we heard the mother's loud calls. The little fellow responded with shrieks. Andekko barked furiously, and in an instant we were outside our palisades, leaving Andekko within. Shortly after we succeeded in approaching the old nshiego-nkengo unseen, and killed her.
Ndova did not seem to take to the addition to our family. The two looked at each other in a strange way. But the next day they were more friendly, and the third day they had become friends, and were trying to discover insects upon each other's bodies. It took a few days more to make Andekko and Nshiego friends. Finally, however, the great pleasure of Andekko was to lie down by Nshiego and let himself be scratched. In three days Nshiego had become quite tame, but in less than a week he died.
CHAPTER XVII
MY RECKONING LOST—ROGALA AND I GO TO AN ISLAND WHERE I CAN SEE THE HEAVENS—WE REACH IT BY A RAFT AND BUILD A HOUSE—TURTLE'S EGGS IN PROFUSION
I had been so long in the forest and had led such a life that I could not remember the day of the week and the date of the month. I was not sure whether I was at the end of July or at the beginning of August, nor could I tell if I was north or south of the equator.
The only way for me to find out these things was to make astronomical observations, to find out my latitude and longitude. While in that great and apparently boundless forest I compared myself to a mariner, all alone in a boat, without compass, in the middle of the ocean, having for days a cloudy and gray sky above his head which hid the sun, the moon, and the stars from his sight, so that he could not know in what direction to steer his boat. The foliage of the trees above my head took the place of the gray and cloudy sky.
I said to Rogala, Shinshooko, and Alapai: "It is a long time since I have seen the sun, the moon, and the stars, for when I look up I see nothing but leaves which hide the heavens from my sight. I wish to go to a large open place, to a river where I can see the sun, the moon, and the stars, for I want to speak to them and consult them."
When my hunters heard me speak in that manner, all three looked at me with wonder. Their eyes stood wide open with astonishment and seemed to be twice as big as before.