The Colonel, the two cowboys, and Ulyate reached the Rugged Rocks
at least an hour ahead, and when the rest of us came straggling
in we found them seated on the ground with their backs to the
bole of a tree. None of them looked up as we halted there,
dismounted, and turned the horses loose. Then Ulyate spoke.
"Water hole has dried," he said.
There was nothing to be done about it. If the water hole had
dried, it had dried. That was all. And we had to push on to
Kijabe. Lions or no lions, there was no appeal from that decree.
So we sat down with the others and watched the progress of the
far-off dust cloud that marked the approaching wagons. Then, when
darkness came again, the safari resumed the march.
But the Colonel refused to abandon his former plan entirely
without making at least one more attempt. Together with the two
cowboys and Kearton, he remained behind to scout at dawn the
district between the Rugged Rocks and the railway.
"We might be able to tell if it's worth while to come back here,"
he explained.
It was nearly noon of the following day before the scouting party
rejoined the expedition on the platform of the Kijabe station.
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