The Colonel was the last to come in. He rode straight to the tree
where the company were gathered, dismounted, and sat down. Then
he spoke to the world at large.
"They must be about here somewhere," he said. "And being about
here somewhere, we'll get 'em yet."
When the shadow beneath the tree began to lengthen toward the
east, the safari shook itself together and prepared to move on
once more. But this time, instead of occupying his customary
position at the head of the column, the Colonel lagged behind.
Immediately after leaving the grove of trees, the road commenced
to climb the first rises of the Mau escarpment. As we mounted
higher up the hillside, the view behind us opened out into a
grand panorama of the two valleys and their sentinel volcanoes,
with the smoke haze hanging over all. For a time, those of us who
were in front rode half sideways in the saddle, looking back over
the way we had come and over the district we had grown to know so
well. Then we crossed a small, level park that formed the crest
of the first hill, and as we moved down the western slope the
view behind us disappeared and the new country spread before us.
Pages:
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445