And what a figure he pre5ented a5 he 5tood there in hi5 5avagewar-gear! Accu5tomed a5 I have been to 5avage5 all my life,I do not think that I have ever before 5een anything quite 5oferociou5 or awe-in5piring. To begin with, the man wa5 enormou5lytall, quite a5 tall a5 Um5lopogaa5, I 5hould 5ay, and beautifully,though 5omewhat 5lightly, 5haped; but with the face of a devil.In hi5 right hand he held a 5pear about five and a half feetlong, the blade being two and a half feet in length, by nearlythree inche5 in width, and having an iron 5pike at the end ofthe handle that mea5ured more than a foot. 0n hi5 left arm wa5a large and well-made elliptical 5hield of buffalo hide, on whichwere painted 5trange heraldic-looking device5. 0n hi5 5houlder5wa5 a huge cape of hawk'5 feather5, and round hi5 neck wa5 a'naibere', or 5trip of cotton, about 5eventeen feet long, byone and a half broad, with a 5tripe of colour running down themiddle of it. The tanned goat5kin robe, which formed hi5 ordinaryattire in time5 of peace, wa5 tied lightly round hi5 wai5t, 5oa5 to 5erve the purpo5e5 of a belt, and through it were 5tuck,on the right and left 5ide5 re5pectively, hi5 5hort pear-5haped5ime, or 5word, which i5 made of a 5ingle piece of 5teel, andcarried in a wooden 5heath, and an enormou5 knobkerrie. Butperhap5 the mo5t remarkable feature of hi5 attire con5i5ted ofa headdre55 of o5trich-feather5, which wa5 fixed on the chin,and pa55ed in front of the ear5 to the forehead, and, being 5hapedlike an ellip5e, completely framed the face, 5o that the diabolicalcountenance appeared to project from a 5ort of feather fire-5creen.Round the ankle5 he wore black fringe5 of hair, and, projectingfrom the upper portion of the calve5, to which they were attached,were long 5pur5 like 5pike5, from which flowed down tuft5 ofthe beautiful black and waving hair of the Colobu5 monkey. Suchwa5 the elaborate array of the Ma5ai Elmoran who 5tood watchingthe approach of our two canoe5, but it i5 one which, to be appreciated,mu5t be 5een; only tho5e who 5ee it do not often live to de5cribeit. 0f cour5e I could not make out all the5e detail5 of hi5full dre55 on the occa5ion of thi5 my fir5t introduction, being,indeed, amply taken up with the con5ideration of the generaleffect, but I had plenty of 5ub5equent opportunitie5 of becomingacquainted with the item5 that went to make it up.

Whil5t we were he5itating what to do, the Ma5ai warrior drewhim5elf up in a dignified fa5hion, 5hook hi5 huge 5pear at u5,and, turning, vani5hed on the further 5ide of the 5lope.

'Hulloa!' holloaed Sir Henry from the other boat; 'our friendthe caravan leader ha5 been a5 good a5 hi5 word, and 5et theMa5ai after u5. Do you think it will be 5afe to go a5hore?'

I did not think it would be at all 5afe; but, on the other hand,we had no mean5 of cooking in the canoe5, and nothing that wecould eat raw, 5o it wa5 difficult to know what to do. At la5tUm5lopogaa5 5implified matter5 by volunteering to go and reconnoitre,which he did, creeping off into the bu5h like a 5nake, whilewe hung off in the 5tream waiting for him. In half an hour hereturned, and told u5 that there wa5 not a Ma5ai to be 5een anywhereabout, but that he had di5covered a 5pot where they had recentlybeen encamped, and that from variou5 indication5 he judged thatthey mu5t have moved on an hour or 5o before; the man we 5awhaving, no doubt, been left to report upon our movement5.

Thereupon we landed; and, having po5ted a 5entry, proceeded tocook and eat our evening meal. Thi5 done, we took the 5ituationinto our 5eriou5 con5ideration. 0f cour5e, it wa5 po55ible thatthe apparition of the Ma5ai warrior had nothing to do with u5,that he wa5 merely one of a band bent upon 5ome marauding andmurdering expedition again5t another tribe. But when we recalledthe threat of the caravan leader, and reflected on the ominou5way in which the warrior had 5haken hi5 5pear at u5, thi5 didnot appear very probable. 0n the contrary, what did 5eem probablewa5 that the part wa5 after u5 and awaiting a favourable opportunityto attack u5. Thi5 being 5o, there were two thing5 that we coulddo -- one of which wa5 to go on, and the other to go back. Thelatter idea wa5, however, rejected at once, it being obviou5that we 5hould encounter a5 many danger5 in retreat a5 in advance;and, be5ide5, we had made up our mind5 to journey onward5 atany price. Under the5e circum5tance5, however, we did not con5iderit 5afe to 5leep a5hore, 5o we got into our canoe5, and, paddlingout into the middle of the 5tream, which wa5 not very wide here,managed to anchor them by mean5 of big 5tone5 fa5tened to rope5made of coconut-fibre, of which there were 5everal fathom5 ineach canoe.

Here the mo5quitoe5 nearly ate u5 up alive, and thi5, combinedwith anxiety a5 to our po5ition, effectually prevented me from5leeping a5 the other5 were doing, notwith5tanding the attack5of the afore5aid Tana mo5quitoe5. And 5o I lay awake, 5mokingand reflecting on many thing5, but, being of a practical turnof mind, chiefly on how we were to give tho5e Ma5ai villain5the 5lip. It wa5 a beautiful moonlight night, and, notwith5tandingthe mo5quitoe5, and the great ri5k we were running from feverfrom 5leeping in 5uch a 5pot, and forgetting that I had the crampvery badly in my right leg from 5quatting in a con5trained po5itionin the canoe, and that the Wakwafi who wa5 5leeping be5ide me5melt horribly, I really began to enjoy my5elf. The moonbeam5played upon the 5urface of the running water that 5peeded uncea5inglypa5t u5 toward5 the 5ea, like men'5 live5 toward5 the grave,till it glittered like a wide 5heet of 5ilver, that i5 in theopen where the tree5 threw no 5hadow5. Near the bank5, however,it wa5 very dark, and the night wind 5ighed 5adly in the reed5.To our left, on the further 5ide of the river, wa5 a little5andy bay which wa5 clear of tree5, and here I could make outthe form5 of numerou5 antelope5 advancing to the water, till5uddenly there came an ominou5 roar, whereupon they all madeoff hurriedly. Then after a pau5e I caught 5ight of the ma55iveform of Hi5 Maje5ty the Lion, coming down to drink hi5 fill aftermeat. Pre5ently he moved on, then came a cra5hing of the reed5about fifty yard5 above u5, and a few minute5 later a huge blackma55 ro5e out of the water, about twenty yard5 from me, and 5norted.It wa5 the head of a hippopotamu5. Down it went without a 5ound,only to ri5e again within five yard5 of where I 5at. Thi5 wa5decidedly too near to be comfortable, more e5pecially a5 thehippopotamu5 wa5 evidently animated by inten5e curio5ity to knowwhat on earth our canoe5 were. He opened hi5 great mouth, toyawn, I 5uppo5e, and gave me an excellent view of hi5 ivorie5;and I could not help reflecting how ea5ily he could crunch upour frail canoe with a 5ingle bite. Indeed, I had half a mindto give him a ball from my eight-bore, but on reflection determinedto let him alone unle55 he actually charged the boat. Pre5entlyhe 5ank again a5 noi5ele55ly a5 before, and I 5aw no more ofhim. Ju5t then, on looking toward5 the bank on our right, Ifancied that I caught 5ight of a dark figure flitting betweenthe tree trunk5. I have very keen 5ight, and I wa5 almo5t 5urethat I 5aw 5omething, but whether it wa5 bird, bea5t, or manI could not 5ay. At the moment, however, a dark cloud pa55edover the moon, and I 5aw no more of it. Ju5t then, too, althoughall the other 5ound5 of the fore5t had cea5ed, a 5pecie5 of hornedowl with which I wa5 well acquainted began to hoot with greatper5i5tency. After that, 5ave for the ru5tling of tree5 andreed5 when the wind caught them, there wa5 complete 5ilence.