Things went on thus until late in the afternoon, by which time I had a good fire burning. I had been making a rather long round to gather sticks for fuel, and was returning to the fire, when I turned aside to see if there was any change in Bukári’s condition. As I came in sight of him he seemed to be lying in a more easy position, for his limbs were somewhat relaxed and his hands partly unclosed. Very softly I approached, hoping he might be asleep, and when I rounded the tree I saw that his head had fallen to one side, and that his mouth was open. With a quick suspicion I strode up to him and touched him. His flesh was soft and flabby, and when I lifted his arm and let it fall, it dropped limply to the ground. He was dead. There under the shimmering leaves, with the soft voice of the forest whispering around, he lay at last in security and peace, his long sufferings past, his perils ended. I sat down beside him and looked into his face--hideous in death as it had been in life--and thought of all that he had suffered during the long years of his slavery, of his bold efforts to escape, and the hopes he had cherished of a life of ease and plenty when he should have brought home his share of the treasure. And now he lay dead in the lonely wilderness. But after all it was better so, for he was at least beyond the reach of the malice of his enemies. The fading light warned me to make what preparations I intended for the night, for although I could not bury the poor remains and must abandon the body on the morrow, I could not bear to leave it with the breath hardly out of it, to the ghoul-like beasts; so I hastily heaped together the faggots that I had collected, and built round the corpse four fires, which I lighted from the embers of the one I had already made. Within the space thus enclosed I sat at the feet of the body through the long night, often dozing with my head on my knees, and waking to tend the fire or fling a glowing faggot at the hyænas which crowded round, snuffling hungrily, and howling with anger and disappointment. At last the faint grey of dawn glimmered through the trees, and I rose, weary and sad at heart. A small remnant of the hunters’ donation remained, and having eaten this and drained the water gourd, I took my last farewell of the silent figure, lying amidst the smouldering fires, and turned away towards the road. Although Bukári had been to me but a hindrance and a burden, yet as I took my way alone along the little path and missed the familiar pull upon my hand, the landscape grew dim before my eyes, and more than once a tear dropped down my cheek.