Then my hunters went round the ngina, and, looking at him, shouted: “We were not afraid of you. When the Oguizi looked at you, it was just the same as if you were dead, for he had made up his mind to kill you as soon as he saw you.”
Then I cut off his head, as a trophy, and, carrying it with us, we went back to the plantation and saw our three guides, who had left us as soon as they thought the nginas were near. We laughed at them.
The following day we were on our way back to my hunters’ home. When we reached the plantation, Oshoria carried the head of the gorilla on a pole, Regundo and the other people welcoming us back with great expressions of joy. In the meantime, my clock had stopped, and was silent under the veranda, and Regundo and the other people thought that the spirits that were in it had followed me. Their belief in this increased when they saw that after my return the tick of the clock began again.
CHAPTER XXI
SINGULAR SIGHT IN THE FOREST—ALL KINDS OF ANIMALS FLEEING IN ONE DIRECTION—A TERRIBLE ANT—THE BASHIKOUAY ARMY—ATTACKED EVERYWHERE AT ONCE—HOW I ESCAPED THE TORMENTORS.
A few days after my return from the gorilla hunt I found myself one morning all alone. Regundo had gone for the day. The men were cutting trees for a new plantation; the women were weeding the fields. Feeling somewhat lonely, I left for the forest, armed with a gun. I became so interested on my way in collecting insects and butterflies that the time passed quickly, and before I was aware of it the greater part of the day had gone, and I could not reach the plantation before dark. Knowing this I decided to remain and camp in the forest, for it was impossible to follow the path in the darkness. I had no torch with me, and a leopard might pounce upon me while on my way. So I lighted a fire, collected large leaves, built my camp, and gathered a lot of dead wood, for I intended to surround myself by four fires during the night to make sure that no wild beasts or snakes should come near me. I slept well, waking two or three times during the night to attend to the fires. The following morning I determined to go a little further before I retraced my steps towards the plantation.
After a while I noticed a number of snakes which seemed to follow each other in rapid succession, creeping as fast as they could, and all going in the same direction. Two or three of these passed close to me.
Suddenly I heard the tramping of elephants through the jungles breaking down everything before them, and apparently running as fast as they could. One of them crossed the path in sight of me. They were going in the same direction as the snakes.
These were followed by a number of gazelles, antelopes and wild boars. The forest seemed alive with beasts. These went also in the same direction that the snakes and elephants had gone.
I stood still for a moment, for I had never seen such a sight before, when to my utter astonishment a leopard passed near by, bounding and running as fast as it could in the direction of the other animals. “What is the cause of this leopard leaving his lair during the day time, for they generally sleep during the day?” I asked myself. A strange feeling of fear and awe came over me. I thought that some great convulsion of nature was about to take place. The earth was perhaps to open, and a volcano burst out at the spot where I stood. An involuntary dread that something grave was to happen came over me. The forest became alive with multitudes of insects and butterflies. They too were fleeing, and in the same direction which the animals had taken before them. A great number of insectivorous birds followed them, preying on them in their flight. In a word, all the living creatures of the forest were in a panic, and were all fleeing in the same direction.