WE CROSS THE RIVER AND HIDE OUR AXES—NDOVA'S FRIGHT AT A PYTHON—ANDEKKO FINDS A LEOPARD'S LAIR—WE CAPTURE TWO LEOPARD CUBS—A VISIT FROM SAVAGES—THEY ARE FRIGHTENED BY MY WATERBURY CLOCK

Now that I knew from my astronomical observations where I was, and what was the day of the month and week, I said to Rogala: "Let us go and hunt in the forest, for possibly I may kill some animals or birds I have never seen before. I have done talking to the stars, the moon, and the sun for some time now."

As we were ready to go across the river, I said to Rogala: "We must take our axes with us, for who knows if some wandering natives may not be roaming here and take our raft? If we have our axes, we can make another one quickly." Then we embarked, taking also Andekko and Ndova with us.

After landing, we hid our axes carefully in two different places; one was put in the hollow of a tree, the other under dried leaves. We were walking silently, Rogala leading, for the path was very difficult to follow, being often obliterated by the jungle or fallen branches.

All at once Ndova ran towards me, seeming very much frightened. His eyes were almost starting out of his head, and he sprang upon me and held fast and close to my clothing. He looked in a certain direction, then uttered a cry of anger and defiance towards the place. I whispered to Rogala: "What can be the cause of Ndova's fright and anger? Look at his hair! It is standing up all over his body."

"Probably a snake," replied Rogala.

We went carefully towards the spot whence Ndova had come, and saw a huge python coiled round a tree, watching for prey. We killed the reptile, which was nearly twenty feet long. Rogala cut it into many pieces, packed them together in large leaves, and hung the parcel on the branch of a tree, and said with evident glee: "When we return I will take the parcel with me, for the snake is fat, and will make good soup."

We continued to follow the path, looking all around us for game, and walked as lightly as we could. The footsteps of Rogala, who wore no shoes, could not be heard.

Soon Ndova began to call for monkeys. His power of scent or of hearing was so great that he had detected the presence of monkeys, though we could hear nothing. His calls were soon answered. Then we made him fast to a cord, for fear that he would go away from us. Each side kept on talking and answering each other, and the cries of the flock of monkeys to which he was talking came nearer and nearer. Then they suddenly stopped. Had Ndova warned them not to come nearer? I thought I had detected a peculiar sound that was unlike those he always uttered when he wanted ndovas to come. I might be mistaken, but, after all, they did not come, and we did not hear them utter a single cry.

We continued on our way. After a while we heard in the distance the fierce and angry barking of Andekko. We listened, then shouted at the top of our voices, "Andekko, Andekko," so that he might know we were not far from him. He was evidently not pursuing game, for the barking was stationary.

Rogala said to me: "Let us go through the jungle towards him and see what causes this fierce barking."

"Yes," said I, "let us go and see what is the matter."

So we left the path, and went through the thick jungle, breaking some of the branches as we went along to guide us on our way back.

Louder and louder became Andekko's barking as we neared the spot where he was, when suddenly the barking ceased. The face of Rogala became anxious, and he said to me in a low voice: "Perhaps Andekko has been pounced upon by a snake, which is now coiled round him, and has squeezed him to death."

"That may be so," I replied. "Let us hurry." So we went, careless of the noise we made. We had only our dear Andekko in our minds, and we wanted to save his life, and, if too late, wreak our vengeance upon his destroyer.

"Dear Andekko," I said to myself, "I think a great deal of you, for you have been such a faithful dog, and have rescued us so often from starvation. I will surely kill the animal that has killed or even hurt you."

As we approached the spot, I thought I heard a peculiar noise. I listened. There was no mistake about it. Andekko was alive, and seemed to be busy choking some animal or other.

Rogala and I advanced towards the spot, and came to a dark place in the forest, where a number of big trees had fallen upon each other. Under all was a dark recess, a sort of den, and the dog was there. We shouted "Andekko, Andekko," and he came out with a small leopard in his mouth. We were before a leopard's den; both the father and mother of the cubs had gone in search of prey for them.

"There is no time to be lost," said Rogala to me. "I will go into the den and get the leopard's cubs if Andekko has not killed them all. Watch carefully, Oguizi, while I am in, and if the leopards come, let 'Bulldog' send them their death-blow."

Rogala had perfect faith in "Bulldog," and believed in its supernatural powers.

In the meantime Andekko was barking furiously outside, and it was all we could do to prevent him from again going inside. If he did, he would surely kill the rest of the young leopards, if he had not done so before. I watched carefully while Rogala was getting within; my eyes were everywhere around; "Bulldog" was cocked, and I was ready for any sudden coming of papa and mamma leopard. I felt that I must be quick in aiming at them in case they made their appearance together.

In the twinkling of an eye, however, Rogala came out of the den holding two little live leopards by the neck. There were two others, he said, that were dead, and Andekko had had hold of these two.

Rogala looked at me anxiously, and said: "Oguizi, if the leopards are on their way back with food for their little ones, we shall have a bad time. Their anger will be terrible when they see some of their young dead and torn to pieces, and others missing. They will scour the forest in search of their enemy. They move very fast if they have the scent, making one immense bound after another."

"I will set fire to the leopard's den," I replied; "there are many dead branches, and the fire will spread quickly, and the leopards will not know about our being here." At the same time I lighted a match, and set fire to a spot where there were many dead branches and dried leaves. Soon everything was in a blaze, but in that great and damp forest fires never spread far. We left the spot, and as soon as we were in the path we ran as fast as our feet and legs could carry us towards the river and our island, with visions of leopards bounding at full speed after us. Once in a while I could hear the voice of Rogala say: "Go on, Oguizi, go on!" At other times when I saw him flagging, I would shout: "Come on, come on, Rogala!"

I was quite ahead after a while, and as I came in sight of the river I saw a number of savage-looking men on our island. I counted twenty of them. They looked fierce, and their bodies were covered with war-paint. They carried ugly-looking barbed spears and shields made of elephant skins. Their leader walked ahead of them. He was short, and looked fiercer than the rest. They advanced cautiously, and suddenly they stopped and looked frightened. They were looking at my Waterbury clock, and as soon as they heard the tick-tock they turned suddenly and fled in great haste towards their canoe. In a jiffy they left, filled with fear, and paddled away down the river with the greatest speed. I followed them with my eyes until they disappeared behind a bend of the river.

When Rogala rejoined me, I told him what I had seen, and he said: "Those people live higher up the river, and are going to visit their friends."

I drew a long breath of relief as soon as we got upon our raft, for we did not know but that the leopards were after us.

Suddenly Rogala said: "I have forgotten the snake."

"Never mind," I said to him, "we will go after turtle's eggs."

We had reached the island just in good time, for soon after we heard the roaring of the leopards. They had scented us.

Happily the water was between us. Their rage knew no bounds, for they saw the impassable barrier between us. I said to Rogala: "Hold one of the little leopards up by the neck so that they can see him." Then I fired and succeeded in killing one of the leopards. The other then fled, and we never heard of it again.

That night I slept with "Bulldog" within my arms, and rested my head on the belt holding my revolvers to be ready in case the men we had seen should come back.

The following day we went into the forest in search of game, in spite of our fear that the leopard might still be in the neighborhood. The first thing we did was to collect berries and nuts for Ndova. Finding no game, we returned to our island. Ndova was delighted when we brought him berries. When he could eat no more, he filled his two pouches to their full capacity.