168 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



handing him a loaded rifle when his own has 

 been fired. On one occasion I was covering a 

 rhino which Kermit was trying to photograph. 

 The beast was very close and seemed about to 

 begin hostilities. Gouvimali became very much 

 excited and raised his rifle to shoot. I over- 

 heard Kongoni chide him, and I spoke to him 

 sharply, but he still kept the rifle at his shoulder; 

 whereupon I slapped his face just before shoot- 

 ing the rhino. This prevented his firing and 

 brought him to his senses, but was not a suf- 

 ficient punishment. The really dreadful pun- 

 ishment would have been to send him back to 

 the ranks of the porters. But I wished to give 

 him another chance; so next morning I in- 

 structed Ali that he was to be my interpreter, 

 and that Gouvimali was to be brought up for 

 justice before my tent. To make it impressive, 

 Kongoni and the second tent-boy were sum- 

 moned to attend, which they did with pleased 

 anticipation. But they were not alone. All 

 of Kermit' s attendants rushed gleefully over, 

 including his two first-class gun-bearers, his 

 camera-bearer, the wild 'Nmwezi ex-cannibal 

 whom he had turned into a devoted and ex- 

 cellent tent-boy, and the cheerful Kikuyu 

 savage who had taken naturally to being sais 

 for his and my little mules. The sympathies 



