festival or to fight--probably the latter.

When almost directly below they looked up and saw me; I remained quite
still, watching all the time through the glasses. After the first
surprise they held a hurried consultation and then fled; then another
consultation, and back they came again, this time very warlike. With
shouts and grunts they danced round in a circle, shaking their spears at
me, and digging them into the ground, as much as to say, "That is what
we would do to you if we could!" I rose from my hiding place and
started to go down towards them, when they again retired, dancing
and spear-waving at intervals. At the end of the valley, that is the
third valley, there is a sheer cliff to a plateau running back to the
foot of some round hills; across this plateau they ran until, on coming
to some thick bushes, they hid, hoping, I have no doubt, to take me
unawares. However, I was not their prospective victim, for no sooner had
they planted themselves than I saw Godfrey, all unconscious, sauntering
along towards them.

The whole scene was so clear to me from my lofty position that its
laughable side could not help striking me, but this did not prevent my
forestalling the blacks' murderous designs by a shot from my rifle, which
was sufficiently well aimed to scare the bucks and attract Godfrey's
attention. As soon as possible I joined him and explained my seemingly
strange action. We tracked up the natives, and found they had been
following a regular pad, which before long led us to a fine big rock-hole
in the bed of a deep and rocky gully. A great flight of crows circling
about a little distance off, made us sure that another pool existed;
following down the first gully and turning to the left up another, deeper
and broader, we found our surmise had been correct. Before us, at the
foot of an overhanging rock, was a beautiful clear pool. What a glorious