166 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



— which was bad for the grasshoppers them- 

 selves; and, moreover, I was apt to announce 

 to a man who had deserved well that he should 

 receive so many rupees at the end of the trip, 

 which to him seemed a prophecy about the 

 somewhat remote future, whereas Kermit gave 

 less, but gave it in more immediate form, such 

 as sugar or tea, and rupees to be expended in 

 the first Indian or Swahili trader's store we 

 met; on which occasions I would see Kermit 

 head a solemn procession of both his followers 

 and mine to the store, where he would super- 

 intend their purchases, not only helping them 

 to make up vacillating minds but seeing that 

 they were not cheated. 



An exception was my head tent-boy, Ali. He 

 had a good deal of Arab blood in him, he 

 spoke a little English, he was really intelligent, 

 he was an innately loyal soul, and he was 

 keenly alive to the honor of being the fore- 

 most attendant of the head of the expedition. 

 He was distinctly an autocrat to the second 

 tent-boy, whose tenure was apt to be short, and 

 he regarded Somalis with professional rivalry 

 and distrust. He always did his work excel- 

 lently, and during the eleven months he was 

 with me I never had to correct or rebuke him, 

 and whenever I had a bout of fever he was de- 



