CHAPTER Vit 
BILL 
E IS a little Kikuyu thirteen years old who 
H has attached himself to our safari; a useful 
little beggar, always finds something to 
busy himself with; better take him with you. We 
call him Bill. ‘‘Come here, Bill.” 
Bill came up—a little, naked, thirteen-year-old 
“Kuke” with great black eyes. The eyes did it. 
Mrs. Akeley decided that Bill should go withus. He 
was given a khaki suit two sizes too big for him which 
made the black eyes sparkle. He was made the 
assistant of Alli, Mrs. Akeley’s tent boy, and his 
training as tent boy began. 
In six months Bill had become a full-fledged tent 
boy, with plenty of time always at his disposal to 
mix up with almost everything going on in camp. I 
think of him now, after three expeditions in which 
he has been with me, as the best tent boy, the best 
gun-bearer, the best tracker, and the best headman 
that it has ever been my lot to know—a man who, I 
know, would go into practically certain death to 
serve me. If I were starting out on an expedition 
among unknown people in Africa I would rather have 
Bill as a headman and as a counselor in dealing with 
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