I do not think the Wa’M’bu quite understood us. We played a game of pure bluff throughout, and, strange to say, it answered perfectly, though personally I have no wish to repeat the experience—at least, not without a much larger quantity of ammunition than we then carried. They were strong enough to have utterly annihilated us, though no doubt they would have suffered in the process; and it speaks well for the prestige of the white man that we three were able to pass unharmed through the most difficult part of their country, literally surrounded by thousands of their fighting men. Our forty men did not count for much in the eyes of the Wa’M’bu, as they knew them to be natives like themselves, and comparatively easily disposed of in spite of their guns. After pitching our camp we interrogated the two guides, and found that another hour’s march would take us out of M’bu altogether, and into another country called Zuka, with the inhabitants of which the Wa’M’bu were at enmity. As we were not pining for the further company of the Wa’M’bu, we were up and moving before daylight on the following morning. In these cold misty highlands the natives do not turn out till the sun is well up, so that by starting early we were perfectly safe from their unwelcome attentions, and were over the border before they realized that we had departed hence. To our disgust, we found that one of the two guides had managed to escape during the night; but we kept tight hold of the other, who was presently joined by another of his friends, so that we still felt safe about the road. After a difficult tramp, lasting over two hours, through thick jungle, we unexpectedly emerged on the edge of a vast ravine, one of the largest I have seen round Mount Kenia. It must have been several hundred feet deep, and perhaps half a mile across. The sides sloped sharply down at an angle of 120°, so that descent was quite impossible. One could fancy from its appearance that it had been cut clean into the lower slope of Kenia by a Titanic sword-stroke. At the bottom was the foaming torrent which served as the boundary between M’bu and Zuka. Having learned from the guides that further down the river there was a place where we should be able to cross, we resumed our march in that direction, and, forcing our way through the jungle, skirted the crest of the ravine until we found the crossing. Though the sides of the ravine were still terribly steep, we scrambled down somehow, and at the bottom found a rude bridge thrown across the stream. It was simply a tree-trunk, but with a little care the whole party got safely to the other side. The animals we swam across, first taking the precaution to tie a rope round their necks. We then pulled them over to the other bank, and landed them safely, unappreciative perhaps, but alive and most certainly kicking.