s pouch, and felt
confident that nothing could climb the tree. Besides, he had heard that
leopards seldom attack men unless themselves attacked. Sleep, however,
was out of the question, for when he slept he might have fallen from
his seat in the crotch of the tree. Occasionally, however, he dozed off,
waking up always with an uncomfortable start, and a feeling that he
had just saved himself from falling. With the earliest dawn of morn he
descended, stiff and weary, from the tree. Directly the sun rose he set
off walking. He knew at least that he was to the south of the camp, and
that by keeping the sun on his right hand till it reached the zenith
he must get in time to the little stream on which it was pitched. As
he walked he listened intently for the sound of guns. Once or twice
he fancied that he heard them, but he was quite unable to judge of the
direction. He had been out with the Houssa about six hours before he
strayed from him in the pursuit of the butterfly, and they had for some
time been walking towards the camp, in order to reach it by nightfall.
Thus he thought, that at that time, he could only have been some three
or four miles distant from it. Supposing that he had run due south, he
could still be but eight miles from the stream, and he thought that
in three hours' walking he might arrive there. In point of fact, after
leaving the Houssa the butterfly had led him towards the southeast, and
as the stream took a sharp bend to the north a little distance above the
camp, he was many miles farther from it than he expected. This stream
was one of the upper tributaries of the Gaboon.

After walking for two hours the character of the forest changed. The
high trees were farther apart, and a thick undergrowth began to make its
appearance, frequently causing him to make long detours and preventing
his following the line he had marked out for himself. This caused him
much uneasiness, for he knew that he had passed across no such country
on his way from the camp, and the thought that he might experience great
difficulties in recovering it, now began to press upon him.

CHAPTER XI: A HOSTILE TRIBE

Every step that he went the ground grew softer and more swampy, and
he at length determined to push on no farther in this direction, but
turning to his left to try and gain higher ground, and then to continue
on the line he had marked out for himself.

His progress was now very slow. The bush was thick and close, th