Soldiering and Sport in Uganda 



the early morning for the day's march," and note 

 the back-breaking hills in the background, which 

 had the effect of making the porters very unwilling 

 to start. They knew, however, that if they ran 

 away they would probably meet with an untimely 

 end by starvation or at the hands of hostile natives. 

 As Lytton once said : "In this vast chess-board 

 of great ends we must move men to and fro and 

 harden our natures to the hazard of the game." 

 We found the escort encamped in a narrow valley 

 with precipitous sides, where there was scarcely 

 enough room to sit down, the idea being to conceal 

 the party from the enemy's scouts. We managed 

 to erect some sort of covering on the hillside, under 

 which we both slept, huddled up in a most uncomfort- 

 able position. 



The next morning we did not start till ten 

 o'clock, as we had to await the news of our 

 scouts before proceeding. Our Soudanese did 

 rear-guard, so we were the last of all to get away. 

 Crossing a difficult river, we clambered up an 

 exceedingly steep mountain, and I was fairly cooked 

 at the top of it. It was well worth any climb, however, 

 to obtain the view from the summit: capacious lakes, 

 frowning volcanoes, cultivated plains broke on the 

 vision in tumultuous confusion. If this was the type 

 of country for which we were striving, I could well 

 understand it. I was pleased to find the path 

 leading down to the valley on the further slope very 

 graduated. In this valley the whole of our "safari" 

 had halted, gathered around a pool of good water. 



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