Komba went to the bows and his people, taking the broad
paddles, rowed and pushed the boat along the water-way made by the
hippopotami through the tall and matted reeds, from which ducks and
other fowl rose in multitudes with a sound like thunder. A quarter of
an hour or so of paddling through these weed-encumbered shallows
brought us to the deep and open lake. Here, on the edge of the reeds a
tall pole that served as a mast was shipped, and a square sail, made
of closely-woven mats, run up. It filled with the morning off-land
breeze and presently we were bowling along at a rate of quite eight
miles the hour. The shore grew dim behind us, but for a long while
above the clinging mists I could see the flag that we had planted on
the mound. By degrees it dwindled till it became a mere speck and
vanished. As it grew smaller my spirits sank, and when it was quite
gone, I felt very low indeed.
Another of your fool's errands, Allan my boy, I said to myself. I
wonder how many more you are destined to survive.
The others, too, did not seem in the best of spirits.
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