e to be
some left behind. But he was insistent. We were well armed, he urged,
and he could see none. He badly wanted to see the place, and at last I
consented. We each had a hundred rounds of ammunition, and if it came
to a fight the three of us Klaas was also well armed could almost
exterminate them. So, leaving the old man behind, we ventured down the
narrow cleft clinging, scrambling, and occasionally using the rope. At
length we stood in the open arena.

"At the bottom there was nothing living to be seen. A trickling stream
issued from the rock on one side, and we drank before starting to
explore the place. We found a piece of tattered clothing, and paused
and looked at each other in dismay. There had been men there! But we
discovered nothing else of importance as we continued our circuit of
the crater. We had been engrossed in our investigations, however, and
when we had finished it became clear that we had started our descent
too late. The rapidly failing light showed us that the day was nearly
at an end. The baboons might return at any time, and to fight them in
the narrow ravine, without proper light, would be madness. Then came a
warning shot fired by Jantje on the height above: the beasts were
returning. To find some kind of hiding-place and lie there until the
morrow was our only hope of safety. Luckily we discovered a sort of
shallow cave that hid us well, with a huge boulder at the entrance that
would if need be form a barrier. The cave might be the sleeping-place
of one of the baboons; but it was our only chance, and we had barely
taken possession before the advance guard of the baboons came hooting
down the ravine and made for the drinking-place. Night was now falling
fast, and it was dark before the main troop entered the crater. We
could only dimly make out their forms, but their harsh barks were
continuous. They did not come near us, and we sat and watched, and
whispered to each other, and waited for the moon, which seemed long in
coming. At last its bright light struck full into the crater, and we
could see the baboons sitting together in a mass at the farther side.
But not for long; for as we waited there was a movement among the
animals, and two long files of them left the main body and came slowly
towards the part in which we lay hidden. Tense with apprehension we sat
and gazed, expecting that they would make a dash for us. They kept
steadily on, however: two long lines of huge beasts a few yards a