He returned late in the afternoon, accompanied by the fossil and the other two ancients, with whom we had bargained, bringing with them the two tusks. We gave them a piece of our minds and the price agreed upon, and allowed them as a special favour to pick their three ewes, a proceeding which occupied the greater part of another hour. The tusks were only medium specimens, weighing 90 lbs. the pair. We thanked Bei-Munithu for his efforts on our behalf, although we had more than a shrewd suspicion that he had caused the whole delay from first to last, though for what purpose we could not be very certain. It was very late in the day when we eventually started for Mathara, and there seemed very little hope of reaching it that night, though we determined to try, notwithstanding our many loads and our miscellaneous collection of cattle, sheep, goats, and loaded donkeys, all of which seemed to have contracted a malignant type of perverseness, inasmuch as they would not keep to the path, needing constant care and watchfulness and frequent halts in order to recover stragglers. Fortunately, Dirito and one of his tribesmen volunteered to accompany us and “chunga” (drive) the animals, an offer which we gladly accepted. We made fair progress until we reached the strip of forest described in the account of our first march to Karanjui, on the borders of which we arrived just before dusk. We were joined there by Viseli, one of the head-men of Chanjai, and one of his people, who proceeded to assist Dirito in driving the animals. In this manner we reached Karanjui, and El Hakim proposed that we should camp there. I was averse to such a plan, however, remembering George’s note, so we pushed on. Traversing the further belt of forest, we crawled out into the open plain which stretches away to Mathara. The sun had already set, and the wind became bitterly cold. The porters were tired and beginning to straggle, but as there was no water nearer than a stream an hour’s march on the hither side of our own camp, we had no choice but to proceed in spite of the darkness. On we went, Dirito and Viseli with the tired animals keeping close to us, while the porters were strung out in an irregular line in the rear. It grew pitch dark, and a cold wind, increasing in violence, nearly froze us.