Just before sunset George spotted a possibly likely place for the descent. It certainly looked desperate enough, but by this time we were beyond counting the risks. We scrambled down, therefore, leaping from boulder to boulder, and every few moments having to stop in order to cut ourselves free with our knives from the clinging embrace of the ubiquitous “wait-a-bit.” Our clothes and skin suffered terribly, but we were determined to reach the bottom somehow, and plunged and scrambled downwards, regardless of minor personal injuries. Halfway down we heard a shot from among the greenery near the river, which I recognized as El Hakim’s ·450. I answered it with another shot in order to apprize him of our presence, and continued the descent. Finally we reached the bottom, breathless and bleeding, our clothes literally in ribbons. The donkeys and cattle followed us, scrambling down in some remarkable manner, though how I could not stop to inquire. Most probably they, like ourselves, were induced by the sight of the green vegetation and the smell of water to attempt a descent which at any other time they would never have faced. Another three-quarters of an hour over the flat brought us to the spot where El Hakim was already camped. The report we had heard had been the death-knell of a Waller’s gazelle (_Lithocranius Walleri_), which was at once divided among the men, so that they had at least a taste of meat to go on with—we ourselves dining on two guinea-fowl, one of which I had shot on the road, the other having been secured by El Hakim. We were all tired out, and turned in immediately we had finished eating. The tents were not needed, the climate being so mild. Indeed, from now onwards, till we were once more at this point on our way back to Kenia, we did not need to use the tents at all, except for the sake of privacy. FOOTNOTES: [13] The rinderpest has all but exterminated the buffalo and the eland in British East Africa, as elsewhere on the African continent. CHAPTER XII. _IN THE RENDILI ENCAMPMENT._ Narrow escape from a python—Arrival among the Burkeneji and Rendili—No ivory—Buying fat-tailed sheep instead—Massacre of the Somalis’ porters by the Wa’embe—Consternation of Ismail Robli—His letters to Nairobi. At sunrise next morning we were awakened by the twittering of innumerable song-birds, and by the raucous screams of the guinea-fowl and francolins calling to their mates. It was a perfect morning, the bright, clear sunshine and soft balmy atmosphere reminding one of a summer morning in the Mediterranean. Our spirits responded instantly to the cheering influence of the soft sunshine, which quickly dispelled the gloomy spectres of famine and desolation which had haunted us for so long. We resumed our journey with a cheeriness and sprightliness to which we had long been strangers.