Hunting in East Africa 



a few words of that tongue. I told them that 

 I was determined to push on ; that I knew 

 that porters were Hke sheep and were per- 

 fectly under the control of the head men; con- 

 sequently, should anything happen, I would 

 know on whom to fix the blame. I repeated 

 this several times, and emphasized it with 

 dreadful threats, then motioned for them to 

 leave the tent. I cannot say that I passed a 

 comfortable night. Instead of songs and 

 laughter, an ominous stillness reigned in the 

 camp, and, though my words had been brave, 

 I knew that I was entirely at the mercy of 

 the men. 



Before dawn we were under way, keeping a 

 strict watch for any signs of mutiny. But, 

 though the men were sullen, they showed no 

 signs of turning back. Our road lay over a 

 wide plain, everywhere covered thickly with 

 lava, the aspect of which was arid in the 

 extreme. 



No more green buffalo bush, no more aca- 

 cias, tall and beautiful, but in their place rose 

 columns of dust, whirled hither and thither by 

 the vagrant wind. Two of my men had been 

 over this part of the road before, but they pro- 

 fessed to be ignorant of the whereabouts of 



49 



