Part 14 (2/2)

They were old h-headed dignity of the true aristocrat Their robes were voluminous, of some short-haired skins, beautifully embroidered Around their arms were armlets of polished buffalo horn They wore s extending well beyond the first joints of the fingers Very fine old gentles, we learned that these were the chief and his prile We exchanged polite phrases; then offered tobacco This was accepted

Fro more bananas We indicated our pleasure The oldthe women and children before them

We rode on Our acquired retinue, which had waited at a respectful distance, went on too I suppose theyattached to Our Persons In the depths of the forest Billy succuain, and ourd strapped with leather and decorated with cowry shells Our boys were completely scandalized at the price she paid for it, so I fear the wily savage got ahead of her

About the middle of the afternoon we sat down to wait for the safari to catch up It would never do to cheat our boys out of their anticipated grand entrance to the Government post at Meru We finally debouched fro at the head of a , boys chanting and beating the sides of their loads with the safari sticks As there happened to be gathered, at this time, several thousand of warriors for the purpose of a council, or shauri, with the District Coht our barbaric hearts

(b) MERU

The Govern won froes The clearing is a very large one, and on it the grass grows green and short, like a lawn

It rese, beautiful downs of a first-class country club, and the illusion is enhanced by the Co some trees atop a hill Well-kept roadways railed with rustic fences lead fro in the hollow and to the Government offices atop another hill

Then also there are the quarters of the Nubian troops; round low houses with conical grass roofs

These, and the presence everywhere of savages, rather take away from the first country-club effect A corral see mob of natives; we found later that this was the e

Groups wandered idly here and there across the greensward; and other groups sat in circles under the shade of trees, each round behind him At stated points were the Nubians, fine, tall, black, soldierly men, with red fez, khaki shi+rt, and short breeches, bare knees and feet, spiral puttees, and a broad red sash of webbing

One of these soldiers assigned us a place to camp We directed our safari there, and then immediately rode over to pay our respects to the Coreeted us with the utmost cordiality, and offered us cool drinks Then we accorand shauri or council of chiefs

Horne was a little chap, dressed in flannels and a big slouch hat, carrying only a light rawhide whip, with very little of the dignity and ”side” usually considered necessary in dealing ild natives The post at Meru had been established only two years, a a people that had always been very difficult, and had only recently ceased open hostilities Nevertheless in that length of time Horne's personal influence had won them over to positive friendliness He had, moreover, done the entire construction work of the post itself; and thisto be evenditches ran in all directions bri with clear ravelled; the houses were substantial, well built and well kept; fences, except of course the rustic, ashed; the native quarters and ”barracks” ell ranged and in perfect order The place looked ten years old instead of only two

We followed Horne to an enclosure, outside the gate of which were stacked a great number of spears Inside we found the owners of those spears squatted before the open side of a s a table and a chair Horne placed hied back, and hit the table s an oldspeech

When he had finished another did likewise All was carried out with the greatest decoru his lounging attitude, spoke twenty or thirty words, rapped again on the table with his rawhide whip, and immediately came over to us

”Now,” said he cheerfully, ”we'll have a ga Most of us have at one time or another laid out a scratch hole or so somewhere in the vacant lot We returned to the house, Horne produced a sufficiency of clubs, and we sallied forth Then cahteen, mind you-over an excellently laid-out and kept-up course! The fair greens were cropped short and sreens were rolled, and in perfect order; bunkers had been located at the correct distances; there ater hazards in the proper spots In short, it was a genuine, scientific, well-kept golf course Over it played Horne, solitary except on the rare occasions when he and his assistant happened to be at the post at the same time The nearest white man was six days' journey; the nearest small civilization 196

Which was, in turn, over three hundred sters a good deal like the Gold Dust Twins They wore nothing but our golf bags Afield were other supernumerary caddies: one in case we sliced, one in case we pulled, and one in case we drove straight ahead Horne explained that unliolf balls I can well believe it

F joined forces with Horne against B and ret to state that America was defeated by two holes

We returned to find our caes In a short ti a brisk business Two years before we should have had to barter exclusively; but now, thanks to Horne's atteood We had, however, very good luck with bright blankets and cotton cloth

Our beads did not happen here to be in fashi+on Probably three ht have done better with them The feminine mind here differs in no basic essential froe as rapidly, as often and as cos blue beads when blue beads have ”gone out” ht a nus for four cents apiece (our as for the saht one of the short, soft skin cloaks e on the wall We offered a youth two rupees for one Thisof the words snatched off his cloak and rushed forward holding it out As that reduced his costume to a few knick-knacks, Billy retired froe matters

We dined with Horne His official residence was rass-thatched roof, with a well-brushed earth floor covered with ood phonograph, tables, lamps and the like When the mountain chill descended, Horne lit a fire in a coal-oil can with a perforated botto wood lost itself far aloft Leopard skins and other trophies hung on the wall We dined in another room at a well-appointed table After dinner we sat up until the unheard of hour of ten o'clock discussing at length many matters that interested us Horne told us of his personal bodyguard consisting of one son froed to ood an appearance as possible, and as a consequence turned out in the extreeousness Horne spoke of the the different tribes well disposed,” but I thought he was at heart a little proud of thereat tales of their endurance, devotion and efficiency Also we heard that Horne had cut in half his six months' leave (earned by three years' continuous service in the jungle) to hurry back fro absent froood hted house into the vast tropical night The little rays of our lantern showed us the inequalities of the ground, and where to step across the bubbling, little irrigation streams But thousands of stars insisted on a si lay half guessed in the die was the velvet band of the forest, dark and le Fro of solee peoples