e, and was followed by a terrific crash of thunder. We took
advantage of what we could see during those few seconds of light to
steer our way toward Tucker Village and Gomba.

The rivers, swollen by the rain, were extremely difficult to cross. The
water seemed to flow so rapidly on the inclined bed that it was all we
could do to keep on our feet. So wet were we that we did not even take
the trouble to remove our shoes and garments, and we splashed, clothes
and all, across the streams we encountered. Three times we went into
the freezing water above our waists, and then marched on for endless
miles on the pebbly and stony incline. We could no more see where we
were going. The storm seemed to grow worse every minute. We stumbled on
amid large stones and bowlders, and fell over one another on slippery
rocks. Farther on we sank up to our knees in mud, which stuck in lumps
to our feet and made them as heavy as lead. It was a downpour such as I
had seldom before experienced.

"Are you quite sure that this lake is the home of the gods?" I inquired
of Kachi. "Why, even on the Devil's Lake we had better weather than
this."

"Yes, sir," replied Kachi. "But you make the gods angry, and that is why
they send thunder, hail, and rain to stop your progress. You are going
on against the gods, sir."

"Never mind, Kachi. It cannot pour forever."

At midnight we had no idea where we were; still we pushed on.

"Have we passed the Gomba? Have we not yet reached it?" were the
questions we asked one another. It seemed to me that, at the rate we
were going, we should have been near the place, and yet after another
hour's tramp we had not struck it. I was under the impression that we
had gone about nine miles. I expressed the opinion that we had passed
it, but the Shokas insisted that we had not, so we again proceeded.

We had hardly gone five hundred yards when we heard the faint, distant,
and most welcome bark of a dog. It came from the north-west, and we
surmised that it must come from Tucker. We had steered too far south of
the place, which accounted for our missing it in the darkness.

Guided by the yelping, we hastily directed our steps toward the
settlement. Suddenly the first dog was joined by fifty others, all angry
and noisy; but though we knew by the sound that we were approaching the
village, it was so dark and stormy that we could not find the place.
Only when we found ourselves close to the mud huts could we be certain
th