fish."

"That is, as long as we stay near the river. We still have to pass the
rainy season here, as these continual downpours would surely prostrate
you with the fever. Remember, however, that later we shall start upon a
further journey and we might chance upon a desert."

"Such as Sahara?" Nell asked in alarm.

"No; one where there are neither rivers, nor fruit-trees, and only low
acacias and mimosas grow. There one can live only upon what is secured
by hunting. The King will find grass there and I antelopes, but if I do
not have anything to shoot them with, then the King will not catch
them."

And Stas, in reality, had something to worry about, as by that time,
when the elephant was already tamed and had become friendly it was
impossible to abandon him and doom him to death by starvation; and to
liberate him meant the loss of a greater portion of the ammunition and
exposing themselves to unavoidable destruction.

So Stas postponed the work from day to day, repeating to himself in his
soul each evening:

"Perhaps to-morrow I may devise some other scheme".

In the meantime to this trouble others were added. At first Kali was
stung at the river below by wild bees to which he was led by a small
gray-greenish bird, well-known in Africa and called bee-guide. The
black boy, through indolence, did not smoke out the bees sufficiently
and returned with honey, but so badly stung and swollen that an hour
later he lost all consciousness. The "Good Mzimu," with Mea's aid,
extracted stings from him until night and afterwards plastered him with
earth upon which Stas poured water. Nevertheless, towards morning it
seemed as if the poor negro were dying. Fortunately, the nursing and
his strong constitution overcame the danger; he did not, however,
recover his health until the lapse of ten days.

The second mishap was met by the horses. Stas, who during Kali's
sickness had to fetter the horses and lead them to water, observed that
they began to grow terribly lean. This could not be explained by a lack
of fodder as in consequence of the rains grass shot up high and there
was excellent pasturage near the ford. And yet the horses wasted away.
After a few days their hair bristled, their eyes became languid, and
from their nostrils a thick slime flowed. In the end they ceased to eat
and instead drank eagerly, as if fever consumed them. When Kali
regained his health they were merely two skeletons. But he only glanced
at them and und