Page:Two kings of Uganda.djvu/53

While at the far end of the creek marked "Smith's Sound" on the map, we were in the territory of a young chief named Sonda, with whom we left most of our property. We pitched our tents in the forest some little distance apart, and about a mile from the village. We piled up thorn bushes to keep off wild beasts, and the first night that I spent in this forest I happened to be by myself. I had allowed my two boys to sleep in the village, as they had not finished building their huts near me. Before they left they had made a large fire in front of the tent, a welcome luxury on those chilly evenings. When their cheery " Kwa-heri, bwana," " Good-night, sir," died away, I was alone. A feeling of the utter strangeness of my position stole over me. Can it be true that I am in an African forest a thousand miles away from even the outskirts of civilisation ? It is at such a time as this that the unanswerable problem of human life forces itself upon the mind, and the absorbing questions. What am I ? Whence came I ? Whither am I going ? Why am I here ? present themselves with overwhelming power. Those who know something of the "blank misgivings of a creature moving about in