112 AFRICAN CAMP FIRES. 



forces were for the time being at an end, and 

 that he was willing to go home. 



Accordingly very early next morning we set 

 out by the glimmer of a lantern, hoping to get a 

 good start on our journey before the heat of the 

 day became too severe. We did gain something, 

 but performed several unnecessary loops and semi- 

 circles in the maze of beaten paths before we 

 finally struck into one that led down the slope 

 towards the sea. Shortly after the dawn came up 

 " like thunder " in its swiftness, followed almost 

 immediately by the sun. 



Our way now led along the wide flat between 

 the seashore and the Shimba Hills, in which we 

 had been hunting. A road ten feet wide and 

 innocent of wheels ran with obstinate directness 

 up and down the slight contours and through 

 the bushes and cocoanut groves that lay in its 

 path. So mathematically straight was it that 

 only when perspective closed it in, or when it 

 dropped over the summit of a little rise, did the 

 eye lose the effect of its interhiinability. The 

 country through which this road led was various 

 open bushy veld with sparse trees, dense 

 jungle, cocoanut groves, tall and cool. In the 

 shadows of the latter were the thatched native 

 villages. To the left always ran the blue Shimba 



