Soldiering and Sport in Uganda 



return, which met with great satisfaction on the 

 part of the officer commanding the troops, who had 

 received orders to depart for Mbarara himself, and 

 desired to leave me in command of the troops during 

 his absence. I found things just as usual at Kigezi, 

 and I soon grew weary of the same old monotonous 

 existence. Still, the hour before the dawn is ever 

 the darkest, and a few weeks after I had assumed 

 the command instructions arrived that the authorities, 

 taking compassion upon me, had transferred me to 

 the appointment of acting adjutant at headquarters, 

 from whence it would be easy for m,e to have my 

 teeth rectified, and to put an end at last to this 

 painful form of torture. 



My journey back to Mbarara was rather a 

 tedious repetition of former "safaris," over the same 

 arduous course. It was with no little relief that 

 after climbing the huge range at the back of the 

 camp I looked back and took my farewell gaze at 

 that out-of-the-way corner of the world, which for 

 nearly six months had held me confined. There 

 stood the four volcanoes, seeming to smile me 

 "good-bye," each nestling its peak in a billow of 

 cumulus cloud and resting its massive weight on 

 the fiat, comfortable-looking plains below. 



At the summit of this ridge I sat down to a 

 farewell breakfast, as my companions-in-arms had 

 marched out with me thus far to bid me "good- 

 bye." During the meal, which we endeavoured to 

 make as lively as possible, we welcomed the timely 

 arrival of the weekly mail, which helped to instil 



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