We could not walk fast enough to please me, for I wished to reach the elephant hunting-ground. The path was difficult to follow, for it was so little used. Our advance was impeded by fallen trees blocking the path. The big ones had brought down with them many others. So we had sometimes to go through acres of broken branches, losing the path. In many places we had to creep under low branches with our bodies bent, looking more like apes than human beings. We had to climb or go under fallen trees, or jump from one root to another, these often being over a foot above the ground,—or else we walked for hours in the bed of a stream.
Fortunately I was in my teens, and weighed only a little over one hundred pounds. I was then only five feet two inches tall. Had I been a tall and heavy fellow I should have had an awfully hard time to creep through the jungle. To-day I am but five feet four inches and a half in height.
We travelled the whole day in a northern direction towards a prairie country. A little before sunset we built our camp. The fires were kept blazing all night, for in the region were many leopards, besides snakes crawling at night. We built fifteen fires in a circle, and slept in the centre, the smoke driving the mosquitoes away.
During the night the men on the watch were startled by a rustling in the jungle. They awoke me at once—the noise was close to our camp. The men thought some one was trying to approach our place and to surprise us. We could not see far away, for the bright fires blinded us. An unseen enemy in the dark could see us, while we could not discover him. The men went, with their fingers on the triggers of their guns, to the place whence they thought the noise proceeded. There was no one there.
Another time our suspicions were aroused by a rustling of branches; this one was far more pronounced than the first. We looked at each other, and pointed our guns in the direction of the noise. Then the men gave a terrific war-cry—and fired towards the suspected spot, and with a rush made for it. There was no trace whatever of men having been there.
“This noise must have been made by some huge snake,” said Ogoola.
“Yes,” replied Quabi, “it must have been a huge python, or perhaps some night animals.”
We put more wood on the fires, then Oshoria and Ogoola relieved the watch, and the rest of us went to sleep again. I had not been long asleep when I suddenly jumped up—I thought I had heard a noise—but the forest was still. I had been dreaming, I suppose. Oshoria and Ogoola looked at me in astonishment and said: “Only a big leaf fell on the ground, Oguizi.”
The least noise awakened me in the forest. My sleep was as light as a watch-dog’s.
At dawn of day, after a breakfast of crocodile meat, we were again on the march. Towards noon we rested a while to eat, after which we continued our march, and looked for elephants; but no traces of them could be seen. The day was sultry, and I became very thirsty, which was seldom the case, for I had trained myself not to drink between meals. By and by we came upon a little stream the water of which was as clear as crystal. I plucked a big leaf, which I rolled up into a cornucopia, filled with the cool water, and took a big drink. Rising, I saw what I had not noticed before—a number of human footprints. My men were behind and I waited for them. When they came in sight I bade them come towards me. The fellows’ feet seemed to glide over the ground—I could not hear their footsteps. I pointed out the footprints to them. Their looks betrayed their feelings. They thought evidently that there were people in the neighborhood. Oshoria said: “It is strange that we should see the footprints of men here.”