306 AFRICAN CAMP FIRES. 



and we left N'gombe Brown and his outfit very 

 well fixed. Along the Narossara ran a pleasant 

 shady strip of high jungle ; the country about 

 was clear and open ; but most important of all, a 

 white man of education and personal charm occu- 

 pied a trading boma, or enclosure, near at hand. 

 An accident changed our plans and brought us 

 back unexpectedly at the end of a few weeks. We 

 found that N'gombe Brown had trekked back a 

 long day's journey, and was encamped alone at 

 the end of a spur of mountains. We sent native 

 runners after him. He explained his change of 

 base by saying that the cattle feed was a little 

 better at his new camp ! Mind you this : at the 

 Narossara the feed was quite good enough, the 

 oxen were doing no work, there was companion- 

 ship, books, papers, and even a phonograph to 

 while away the long weeks until our return. 

 N'gombe Brown quite cheerfully deserted all 

 this to live in solitude where he imagined the 

 feed to be microscopically better ! 



