Part 22 (1/2)
XXVII A VISIT AT JUJA
Next day we left all this; and continued our march About a month later, however, we encountered McMillan himself in Nairobi I was just out from a very hard trip to the coast-Billy not withso much as a few days' rest McMillan's cordiality was not to be denied, however, so the very next day found us tucking ourselves into a buckboard behind four white Abyssinianin another si Our driver was a Hottentot half-caste from South Africa He had a flat face, a yellow skin, a quiet manner, and a competent hand His nae, in blanket ear orna lashed whip and raucous voice At any givenwheel, run forward, bat the off leading ility He likewise hurled what sounded like very opprobrious epithets at such natives as did not get out the way quickly enough to suit him The expression of his face, which was that of a person steeped in woe, never changed
We rattled out of Nairobi at a great pace, and swung into the Fort Hall Road This fahfare, one of the three or fourIt is a strategic necessity but is used by thousands of natives on their way to see the sights of the greatthe season there is no water for reat many pay for their curiosity with their lives The road skirts the base of the hills, winding in and out of shallow canyons and about the edges of rounded hills To the right one can see far out across the Athi Plains
Wepack trains of woht of firewood or vegetables, ar hair, skewers in their ears, their jewelery brought to a high polish a fatuous expression of self-satisfaction on their faces, carrying each a section of sugarcane which they now used as a staff but would later devour for lunch; bearers, under convoy of straight soldierly red-sashed Sudanese, transporting Govern shenzis fro ready to bolt aside at the slightest alarrained skin anointed and shi+ning with red oil, strung with beads and shells, very coquettish and sure of their fe solemnly like their elders; camel trains from far-off Abyssinia or Sorave e of dirty degenerate looking East Indians carrying trade goods to so one way or the other, drew one side, at the sight of our white faces, to let us pass
About two o'clock we suddenly turned off frorassy interain over great distance to for the road, with its endless swaraan to appear We encountered herds of zebra, kongoni, wildebeeste, and ”Toe fro buckboard After a time we made out the trees and water tower of Juja ahead; and by four o'clock had turned into the avenue of trees Our approach had been seen Tea was ready, and a great and hospitable table of bottles, ice, and siphons
The nextwe inspected the stables, built of stone in a hollow square, like a fort, with box stalls opening directly into the courtyard and screened carefully against the deadly flies The horses, beautiful creatures, were led forth each by his proud and anxious syce We tried them all, and selected our mounts for the time of our stay The syces were s afoot wherever their charges went, at walk, lope or gallop Thus in a day they covered incredible distances over all sorts of country; but were always at hand to seize the bridle reins when the master wished to dismount
Like the rickshaw runners in Nairobi, they wore their hair clipped close around their bullet heads and seemed to have developed into a small compact hard type of their own They ate and slept with their horses
Just outside the courtyard of the stables a little barredhad been cut through Near this were congregated a nu each in turn a portion of cracked corn from a dusty white e type of savage, and they perfor on their heels and pulling as, carrying loads: to and fro, or sole a laer, blankets wrapped shamelessly about their necks They were harried about by a red-faced beefy English gardener with a es and a short hippo-hide whip He talked himself absolutely purple in the face without, as far asan inch below the surface The Kikuyus went right on doing what they were already doing in exactly the salishman was satisfied with that, but I a variety has hiroup of savages Perhaps in ti; or possibly they just sat nobody but a storekeeper would ever have time to find out Such is the native way The storekeeper in this case was nae of the issuing of all the house supplies, and those for the whiteabout the upper class natives; he must occasionally kill a buck for the meat supply; and he must be prepared to take out any stray tenderfeet that happen along during McMillan's absence, and persuade the place, for it contained everything from pianola parts to patent washstands The next best equipped place of the kind I know of is the property roo picture company
We went to entle-voiced, polite little Hindu, who greeted us sly, and attempted to conceal a work of art We insisted; whereupon he deprecatingly drew forth a copy of a newspaper cartoon having to do with Colonel Roosevelt's visit It was copied with hly coloured in a manner to throw into profound melancholy the chauffeur of a coloured supplement press We admired and praised; whereupon, still shyly, he produced ain more copies of the sa hi valueless labour hich he filled his days Three tiets coure, al easily, his little bundle held before him
Down past the office and dispensary we strolled, by the comfortable, airy, white man's clubhouse The headnified salute; a fine upstanding deep-chested man, with a lofty air of fierce pride He and his handful of soldiers alone of the natives, except the Soroup of huts near the gate There when off duty theywith their wonons, racefully about their pretty figures
By the tis it was noon We ate lunch The various s I elected to go out with McMillan while he killed a wildebeeste, and I a perforate in a buckboard behind four small but lively white Abyssinian mules In the front seat were Michael, the Hottentot driver, and McMillan's Sounbearer In the rear seat were McMillan and myself, while a small black syce perched precariously behind Our rifles rested in a sling before us So we jogged out on the road to Long Juju, exaht and left of us The latter examined us, apparently, with an eye as critical Finally, in a herd of zebra, we espied a lone wildebeeste
The wildebeeste is the Jekyll and Hyde of the anidoish animal, like our vanished bison He stands solid and inert, his head down; he plods slowly forward in single file, his horns swinging, each foot planted deliberately In short, he is the personification of dignity, solid respectability, gravity of demeanour But then all of a sudden, at any ss Up goes his head and tail, he buck jued, and generally performs like an irresponsible infant To see a whole herd at once of these grave and reverend seigneurs suddenly blow up into such light-headed capers goes far to destroy one's faith in the stability of institutions
Also the wildebeeste is not misnamed He is a conservative, and he sees no particular reason for allowing his curiosity to interfere with his preconceived beliefs The latter are distrustful Therefore he and his fe-I should say small-depart when one is yet far away I say small, because I do not believe that any wildebeeste is ever young They do not rese ones, just as Niobe's daughters are in nothing childlike, but ht of this lone wildebeeste a the zebra, I naturally expected that ould pull up the buckboard, descend, and approach to within so luck, the wildebeeste would thereupon depart ”wilder and beestier than ever,” as John McCutcheon has it Not at all! Michael, the Hottentot, turned the buckboard off the road, headed toward the distant quarry, and charged at full speed! Over stones ent that sent us feet into the air, down and out of shallow gullies that seeh they would jerk the pole fro on for his life I was entirely occupied with the state of my spinal column and the retention of ame One peculiarity of the wildebeeste is that he cannot see behind him, and another is that he is curious It would not require a very large bump of curiosity, however, to cause any animal to wonder what all the roas about There could be no doubt that this animal would sooner or later stop for an instant to look for the purpose of seeing as up in jungleland; and just before doing so he would, for a few steps, slon fro for this symptom
”Now!” he yelled, when he saw it
Instantly Michael threw his weight into the right rein and against the brake We swerved so violently to the right and stopped so suddenly that I nearly landed on the broad prairies The manoeuvre fetched us up broadside The s on-darted to the heads of the leading mules At the same moment the wildebeeste turned, and stopped; but even before he had swung his head, McMillan had fired It was extraordinarily good, quick work, the way he picked up the long range from the spurts of dust where the bullets hit
At the third or fourth shots he landed one I run pursued by a rapid fusillade fro shots Then with a violent jerk and a wild yell ere off again
This tiher country
And everywhere that wildebeeste e too were sure to go We hit or shaved boulders that ought to have sardless Te charged unhesitatingly over apparent precipices I do not know the name of the manufacturer of the buckboard
If I did, I should certainly recommend it here Twice more erved to our broadside and cut loose the port batteries Once ained perceptibly The beast eakening When he ca halt ere not over a hundred yards froht him down We had chased him four or five miles, and McMillan had fired nineteen shots, of which two had hit The rifle practice throughout had been reood, and a treat to watch Personally, besides the fun of attending the show, I got a aed slowly back to the house, for the hbour, Mr Heatley of Kamiti Ranch who had ”dropped doelve miles to see us On account of a theft McMillan now had all the Soation on the side verandas The interrogation did not a on the Sudanese head the boys' quarters After a ti, but the searchers brought with the the effects of another, and entirely unsuspected, boy named Abadie
”How is this, Abadie?” demanded McMillan sternly
Abadie hesitated Then he evidently reflected that there is slight use in having a deity unless oneair of belief and candour, ”God eneral day” for the morrow We took boys and buckboards and saddle-horses, beaters, shotguns, rifles, and revolvers, and we sallied forth for a grand and joyous ti standpoint was entirely successful, the bag consisting of taterbuck, a zebra, a big wart-hog, six hares, and six grouse
Personally I was a little hazy and uncertain By evening the fever had er, it was as a patient to McMillan's unfailing kindness rather than as a participant in the life of the farm