I30 EXCURSIONS FROM NJEMPS part ii 



such may once have been the case. I calculated that I could 

 easily complete my survey of the lake in four or five days, 

 during which time the shot-gun would supply ample food ; I 

 had slept out in the open far too often to be in any way 

 concerned about the absence of a tent. Storms of rain were 

 certain to occur, but a bivouac that could be constructed in 

 half an hour would afford fair protection against these ; my 

 only serious regret was at having to go on without collecting 

 apparatus. 



I packed up a few medicines and filled a pocket with 

 cartridges, which was all the luggage I intended to burden 

 myself with, and having made these preparations, sat up 

 writing, as I feared if I went to sleep the men would bolt during 

 the night. Shortly after midnight I heard some one walk 

 quietly up to the tent. I coughed to show that I was awake 

 and indicate my exact position, which, it is barely necessary 

 to add, I immediately changed. I was relieved to hear Fundi 

 say, " Bwana, may I come in ? " He asked if I were really 

 going on, and hearing that I was, told me how twice before, 

 when with enormous caravans, he had been through terrible 

 fights with the fierce Wasuk, who had killed more of his 

 comrades than the whole number of men in my caravan ; 

 " But if you go, I must go on too," he concluded. 



I simply thanked him, and assured him that if I did not 

 fear to go on, he ought not to do so either. But I was very 

 glad to get him, for the fact that he had joined the mutiny 

 was the bitterest constituent in this very unpleasant pill. I 

 neither liked nor trusted any of the other men, but Fundi was 

 a favourite. 



The youngest of the porters, a mere boy named Baron 

 Abbas, then came in and reminded me how I had nursed him 

 when he had been ill on the Tana, and said he must go where 

 I went. A third, a three-quarter-witted porter named Alii, 

 and the two boys then said they would come on too ; so I 

 could now look forward to the rest of the excursion without 

 the feeling that it was going to be a case of work all day and 

 watch all night. 



Next day the mutineers returned to Njemps, where they 

 were stopped by the absence of food and presence of the 

 Masai farther to the south ; the rest of us continued our way 



