The mosquitoes set up a shrill trumpeting that could be heard ten paces away, and held a mass meeting to protest; whereupon the father of all the dragon-flies, a magnificent warrior in a steel- blue armour, saw that a conspiracy was afoot, and swept into the midst with a whirr and a snap, a turn here and a flash there, that scattered the host in a twinkling of a gnat's eye.
The islands shimmered in the glare as if they were afloat; the hippos took to the water, and a deep and drowsy silence fell upon the great river.

But man, ever restless, was astir, and through the stillness there was borne to the three a soft continuous humming, that merged quietly into the short, clamorous throbs of an engine at work under pressure.
The launch was afloat again! Mr.Hume caught the trail of the smoke first, and Compton next.

They marked the course under the north bank right up to a bend about six miles off, and they judged that the launch had stopped there, as the smoke went up in a straight thin column.

Then Venning saw a canoe dart out from the south bank, followed by two others from different points.

The sun struck like fire on gun-barrel and spear-head, and gleamed on the wet paddles.
He moistened his parched lips with a taste of water from his filter- bottle, and gave the call.