bbles round his knees.

"Hi!" we shout after him. "Stop!" And he turns, but only to beckon
imperturbably and continue evenly on his way. It is evidently the custom
of this country to walk through rivers when you meet them! Easy enough
for the inhabitants, who are not encumbered with shoes and stockings,
but for us....

Down we go and are soon hard after him with our boots slung round our
necks and our stockings stuffed into them; the cool water splashing
round our legs is rather pleasant. Lucky it is not deep. We have to stop
and re-clothe on the other side. Here our coolie has condescended to
wait for us, and just as you are about to sit down on a convenient
hillock of bare brown earth he waves you away, and you see that big red
ants with a most fierce and warlike appearance are running about it; it
is their home and fortress! Once more booted we struggle on, uphill now,
on a stony path, and very stiff work it is. When we tell our guide to
stop for a moment he looks at us condescendingly and stands with his
burden poised on his head, not even caring to put it down as he waits
until these poor creatures, who are not carrying anything at all, regain
their breath, and that makes us feel so inferior we don't like to stop
often! The clouds gather and blacken, the perspiration is running down
my back, and I am as wet as if I had waded through the river up to my
neck. I should be glad to see the house, for we have been scrambling
upwards for quite an hour now. What a place to live in! Fancy having to
come down here every time you wanted to do a little shopping!

Another hour at least! A few drops, muttering thunder, and then, quicker
than one can say it, a blinding, crashing downpour. Never in my life
have I seen rain like this until that night at sea when we passed
through the edge of the cyclone, and now twice have I met it in a week!
It is simply a water-spout. A brilliant flash of lightning shows us the
youth crouching under a bank some yards ahead, and we dive into the
nearest place, following his example. Luckily the bank is high here and
there is a kind of cave beneath a mass of broad-leaved plants; there is
just room for the two of us huddled close together, and the wall of
water sweeps past the entrance like a curtain. The rain makes a
deafening noise, it literally crashes down; the path is a mountain
torrent; if we had stayed there we should have been swept off our feet;
it seems as if the whole mountain-side must