CHAPTER XVIII.
ALONE IN CAMP—HUNTING FOR ELEPHANTS—ABOKO KILLS A ROGUE ELEPHANT—I CUT ANOTHER PYTHON IN TWO—WE SHOOT SOME WILD BOARS—A BUFFALO HUNT—RETURN TO SANGATANGA—KING BANGO SICK.
One fine day I remained in the camp, for I had been hunting so much that I wanted a day of rest. All the others had gone to hunt. I was left alone, and I enjoyed the solitude, everything around me was so beautiful and quiet. Nature seemed to smile on all sides. I placed myself at the foot of a large tree, and wrote in my journals; and then I thought of the dear friends I had at home, and wondered if they sometimes thought of me. Then I called to mind all I had seen in the wonderful country which I had explored. I could hardly believe it myself: it seemed like a dream. What extraordinary people, and what curious beasts, had I not met! How many wonderful dangers I had escaped! How kind God had been in protecting me! How He had watched over the poor lonely traveller, and taken care of him during sickness! Thus my heart went up in gratitude, and I silently implored that the protection of God might still be granted me.
Towards sunset, Aboko and Niamkala made their appearance, and brought a fine young boar with them. As usual, without saying a word, they came right to me, and put the dead animal at my feet. Then, seating themselves and clapping their hands, Aboko began to tell me what had happened from the time they started in the morning until the time they returned. They forgot nothing, even mentioning the tracks of the animals they had seen. They reported they had found fresh elephant tracks, and thought the elephants had made their head-quarters there for a few days. After hearing this, we immediately resolved that we would all turn out after elephants on the following day.
Accordingly, in the evening, we cleaned and prepared our guns, and everybody went to sleep early.
The next morning we started about daybreak, each of us carrying some provisions. We were to fire no guns in the forest, for fear of frightening the elephants, who are very shy in this region. We had taken pains to load our guns in the most careful manner.
We hunted all day, but in vain; no elephants were to be seen. We slept out in the woods, for we were too far from the camp to return. We felt so tired that we had only sufficient strength left to enable us to fetch firewood, and to cut a few branches of trees and lie down upon them. I had lost or forgotten the matches, so I had to light the fire with a piece of steel and a gun-flint. This took a little longer.