298 AFRICAN CAMP FIRES. 



As suddenly as they had gathered the storm 

 clouds broke away. The expiring sun sent across 

 the valley a flood of golden light, that gilded the 

 rugged old mountain of Suswa over the way. 



" Directly on the other side of Suswa," C. told 

 me, " there is a 4 pan ' of hard clay. This rain 

 will fill it, and we shall find water there. We 

 can take a night's rest, and set off comfortably 

 in the morning." 



So the rain that had soaked us so thoroughly 

 was a blessing after all. While we were cooking 

 supper the wagon passed us, its wheels and frame 

 creaking, its great whip cracking like a rifle, its 

 men shrieking at the imperturbable team of 

 eighteen oxen. It would travel until the oxen 

 wanted to graze, or sleep, or scratch an ear, 

 or meditate on why is a Kikuyu. Thereupon 

 they would be outspanned and allowed to do it, 

 whatever it was, until they were ready to go on 

 again. Then they would go on. These sequences 

 might take place at any time of the day or night, 

 and for greater or lesser intervals of time. That 

 was distinctly up to the oxen ; the human beings 

 had mighty little to say in the matter. But 

 transport riding, from the point of view of the 

 rank outsider, really deserves a chapter of its 

 own. 



