IN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKA 



CHAPTER I 



TSAVO REVISITED 



On the loth October, 1907, I sailed out of Mar- 

 seilles harbour, bound once again for Mombasa, the 

 picturesque gate of that land of sun and adventure, 

 British East Africa. Within three weeks we 

 reached our destination and dropped anchor in the 

 harbour of Kilindini. From this port I took train 

 for Nairobi, the capital of the country ; and at about 

 midnight on the ist November I awoke from a 

 restless slumber in a Uganda Railway carriage, 

 and found myself speeding down the incline which 

 leads into the valley of the Tsavo, some one 

 hundred and thirty miles from the coast. 



It was with a feeling of returning to my own 

 that I peered out of the carriage window on that 

 star-lit night, gazing into the gloomy depths of 

 the thorny wilderness which shuts in the iron way 



B 



