ON AN EAST AFRICAN RANCH 37 



There were a number of ranches in the neighborhood- 

 using "neighborhood" in the large Western sense, for they 

 were many miles apart. The Hills, Clifford and Harold, 

 were Africanders; they knew the country, and were work- 

 ing hard and doing well; and in the midst of their work 

 they spared the time to do their full part in insuring a suc- 

 cessful hunt to me, an entire stranger. All the settlers I 

 met treated me with the same large and thoughtful courtesy 

 and what fine fellows they were! And their wives even 

 finer. At Bondoni was Percival, a tall sinewy man, a fine 

 rider and shot; like so many other men whom I met, he 

 wore merely a helmet, a flannel shirt, short breeches or 

 trunks, and puttees and boots, leaving the knee entirely 

 bare. I shall not soon forget seeing him one day, as he 

 walked beside his twelve-ox team, cracking his long whip, 

 while in the big wagon sat pretty Mrs. Percival with a puppy, 

 and a little cheetah cub, which we had found and presented 

 to her and which she was taming. They all Sir Alfred, 

 the Hills, every one behaved as if each was my host and 

 felt it peculiarly incumbent on him to give me a good time; 

 and among these hosts one who did very much for me was 

 Captain Arthur Slatter. I was his guest at Kilimakiu, 

 where he was running an ostrich-farm; he had lost his 

 right hand, yet he was an exceedingly good game shot, both 

 with his light and his heavy rifles. 



At Kitanga, Sir Alfred's place, two Boers were working, 

 Messrs. Prinsloo and Klopper. We forgathered, of course, 

 as I too was of Dutch ancestry; they were strong, upstand- 

 ing men, good mechanics, good masons, and Prinsloo spoke 

 English well. I afterward stopped at the farm of Klopper's 

 father, and at the farm of another Boer named Loijs; and 



