THE RED SEA 



powerful shoulders I have ever seen on a man of his 

 frame; and in the depths of his mild blue eyes 

 flickered a flame of resolution that I could well 

 imagine flaring up to something formidable. Slow 

 to make friends, but staunch and loyal; gentle and 

 forbearing, but fierce and implacable in action; at 

 once loved and most terribly feared; shy as a wild 

 animal, but straightforward and undeviating in 

 his human relations; most remarkably quiet and 

 unassuming, but with tremendous vital force in his 

 deep eyes and forward-thrust jaw; informed with the 

 widest and most understanding humanity, but 

 unforgiving of evildoers; and with the most direct 

 and absolute courage, Bwana C. was to me the most 

 interesting man I met in Africa, and became the 

 best of my friends. 



The only other man at our table happened to be, 

 for our sins, the young Englishman mentioned as 

 throwing the first coin to the old woman on the pier 

 at Marseilles. We will call him Brown; and, 

 because he represents a type, he is worth looking 

 upon for a moment. 



He was of the super-enthusiastic sort; bubbling 

 over with vitality; in and out of everything; bounding 

 up at odd and languid moments. To an extra- 

 ordinary extent he was afflicted with the spiritual 

 blindness of his class. Quite genuinely, quite 



37 



