six until ten
o'clock
Stas did not know what to think of it all ; he feared , however , that he might not chance upon the Wahimas at the lake ; he feared also the savage tribes , the waterless jungle , the insurmountable mountains , the tsetse flies which destroy animals ; he feared the sleeping sickness , the fever for Nell , the heat , and that immeasurable expanse which still separated them from the ocean . But after leaving Mount Linde , naught else remained to do than to go ahead continually eastward . Linde indeed had said that this journey was beyond the strength of an experienced and energetic traveler , but Stas had already acquired a great deal of experience , and as to energy , why , as Nell was concerned , he determined to use as much of it as might be necessary . In the meantime it was essential to spare the strength of the little girl ; so he decided to travel only from six until ten o'clock in the forenoon , and to make the second march from three to six in the afternoon only in case that at the first stopping place there was no water . But in the meantime , as the rain fell during the massica quite copiously , they found water everywhere . The little lakes , formed by the downpours in the valleys , were still well filled , and from the mountains flowed here and there streams , pouring crystalline , cool water in which bathing was excellent and at the same time absolutely safe , for crocodiles live only in the greater waters in which fish , which form their usual food , are to be found . Stas , however , did not permit the little girl to drink crude water as he had inherited from Linde a filter whose action always filled Kali and Mea with amazement .