midday
Part of our strategy was to make an early start and march swiftly , taking advantage of his physical weariness after a night in the open on the prowl ; but after a few days in camp it is the most difficult thing imaginable to get a crowd of porters started on the march . It was more particularly difficult on that occasion because none of our men were familiar with Schillingschen 's loads , and the captured ten , even when we loosed their hands and treated them friendly , showed no disposition to be useful . We gave them a load apiece to carry , but to every one we had to assign two of our own as guards , so that , what with having lost the fifteen donkeys , we had not a man to spare . It was after midday when we got off at last . We had not left the camp more than half a mile behind when I looked back and saw Schillingschen where his great tent had stood , cavorting on hands and feet like an enormous dog-baboon , searching every inch of the ground for anything we might have left . We three stood and watched him for half an hour , sweating with fear lest he chance on the place where his diary lay buried in the tin box . We began to wish we had brought it with us .