"But I hope, although things look queer, that none of us will be called upon to die just yet." The morning came at last, and the six of us marched down to the canoe which had been brought round to the open waterway.

Here we had to undergo a kind of customs-house examination at the hands of Komba and his companions, who seemed terrified lest we should be smuggling firearms.
"You know what rifles are like," I said indignantly.

"Can you see any in our hands?
Moreover, I give you my word that we have none." Komba bowed politely, but suggested that perhaps some "little guns," by which he meant pistols, remained in our baggage--by accident.

Komba was a most suspicious person.
"Undo all the loads," I said to Hans, who obeyed with an enthusiasm which I confess struck me as suspicious.
Knowing his secretive and tortuous nature, this sudden zeal for openness seemed almost unnatural.

He began by unrolling his own blanket, inside of which appeared a miscellaneous collection of articles.