He had reloaded
his revolver immediately after discharging it, and had replaced
it in his pouch, and felt confident that nothing could climb the
tree. Besides, he had heard that leopards seldom attack men unless
themselves attacked. Sleep, however, was out of the question, for
when he slept he might have fallen from his seat in the crotch of
the tree. Occasionally, however, he dozed off, waking up always
with an uncomfortable start, and a feeling that he had just saved
himself from falling. With the earliest dawn of morn he descended,
stiff and weary, from the tree. Directly the sun rose he set off
walking. He knew at least that he was to the south of the camp,
and that by keeping the sun on his right hand till it reached the
zenith he must get in time to the little stream on which it was
pitched. As he walked he listened intently for the sound of guns.
Once or twice he fancied that he heard them, but he was quite
unable to judge of the direction. He had been out with the Houssa
about six hours before he strayed from him in the pursuit of the
butterfly, and they had for some time been walking towards the
camp, in order to reach it by nightfall. Thus he thought, that at
that time, he could only have been some three or four miles distant
from it.
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