Part 2 (1/2)

The askaris rushed here and there actively

”Bandika! bandika! bandika!” they cried repeatedly

The le heaved the varicoloured ht, his load balanced on his head At the same moment the syces led up our horses, mounted and headed across the little plain whence had coun

Behind us, all abreast unbearers; then the four syces; then the safari single file, an askari at the head bearing proudly his ancient ing up the rear with his hty umbrella and an unsuspected rhinoceros-hide whip The tent boys and the cook scattered along the flank anywhere, as befitted the free and independent who had nothing to do with the serious business ofof loads with a hundred sticks; a wild, weird chanting burst froain as one or another individual or group feltOne lot had a forh falsetto, said so like,

”Kuna kole word in a deep gruff tone,

”Za-la-nee!”

All of which undoubtedly helped immensely

The country was a bully country, but somehow it did not look like Africa That is to say, it looked altogether toostrange and exotic about it We crossed a little plain, and up over a small hill, down into a shallow canyon that seerass valley or so, and around a grass hill Then ent into carass valley, by a stream across which rose so about a whole lot of this country-it is so much like hoh in all conscience-the jungle beds of the rivers, the baled forests theroves down the aisles of which dance savages with shi+elds-but so very much of it is fae or so to iine one's self in Surrey There is any amount of country like Arizona, andthe sland The prospects of the whole world are there, so that somewhere every wanderer can find the countryside of his own home repeated And, by the saood deal of it so startling When a es, or a pair of snorty old rhinos, step out into what has seemed practically his own back yard home, he is even e surroundings

We rode into the grass meadow and picked camp site The men trailed in and dunal they set to work A dozen to each tent got theht firewood from the stream bed Others carried water, stones for the cook, a dozen other ether the cots and round Within an incredibly short space of tied, each with its bed , its personal box open, its folding washstand ready with towels and soap, the table and chairs unlimbered At a discreet distance flickered the cook campfire, and at a still discreeter distance the little tents of the rass

V MEMBA SASA

I wish I could plunge you at once into the exciteame in Africa, but I cannot truthfully do so To be sure, ent hunting that afternoon, up over the low cliffs, andseveral of a very lively little animal known as the Chandler's reedbuck This was not supposed to be a game country, and that was all we did see At these we shot several tiracefully In fact, for several days we could not shoot at all, at any range, nor at anything It was very sad, and very aggravating Aftere found that this is an invariable experience to the newcoht is new, the air is different, the sizes of the ga At the end of five days we suddenly began to shoot our norait Why, I do not know

But in this afternoon tramp around the low cliffs after the elusive reedbuck, I for the first time became acquainted with a man who developed into a real friend

His na ”now a crocodile” Subsequently, after I had learned to talk Swahili, I tried to find out what he was formerly, before he was a crocodile, but did not succeed

He was of the tribe of the Monuht, compactly and sturdily built, carried hiorous purposefulness His countenancebut not handsoro, but with a fir intentness of brow that was very fine When you talked to hiht in the eye His own eyes were shaded by long, soft, curling lashes behind which they looked steadily and gravely-sometimes fiercely-on the world He rarely s or for politeness' sake-and never laughed unless there was so Then he chuckled froine Often we, at the other end of the cahed in sympathy, just at the sound of that deep and hearty ho! ho! ho! of Mehed much, nor without a very definite restraint In fact, about hi abandon of the native in relaxation; but always a taut efficiency and a never-failing self-respect

Naturally, behind such a fixed moral fibre must always be some nity some ideal must inform it Meunbearer; and he considered that a good gunbearer stood quite a few notches above any other hu, save always the white reat differences

These differences he kept to himself, and treated all with equal respect Nevertheless, they existed, and Memba Sasa very well knew that fact In the white world were two classes of masters: those who hunted well, and those ere considered by them as their friends and equals

Why they should be so considered Mement These were the bwanas, or os, or, ”white men” To their faces he called them bwana, but in his heart he considered them not

Observe, I say those who hunted well Meunbearer, had to accompany those who hunted badly In them he took no pride; from them he held aloof in spirit; but for thenity of his profession

For to Mamba Sasa that profession was the proudest to which a blackits every detail, in acco its every duty unbearer are not to be despised by anybody; for they coe, endurance, and loyalty: the accounbearer are worthy of a man's best faculties, for they include the ability to see and track game, to take and prepare properly any sort of a trophy, field taxidere of how properly to care for firearms in all sorts of circumstances, and a half hundred other like s, and he performed them with the artist's love for details; and his keen eyes were always spying for neays

At a certain tiret, and prepared to take the skin Meht watch audy peacocklike uinea fowl tribe, I handed it over to hiiving it to the cook In a half hour he brought me the complete skin, I examined it carefully, and found it to be well done in every respect

Now in skinning a bird there are a nu the pri the ear cover, and the like I had explained none of therasped their le demonstration and had re the second skin incision of a trophy head that had the effect of giving a better purchase to the knife Its exact description would be out of place here, but it actually consistedthe point of the knife two inches away from the place it is ordinarily inserted One day we noticed that Me his incisions in that manner