AFRICAN CAMP FIRES 



to report for "flogging porters on the Tsavo Sta- 

 tion platform." 



"I am truly sorry, I am truly sorry," the babu 

 was murmuring at our elbows. 



"What does this mean?" we demanded of him. 



He produced a thick book. 



"It is in here the law," he explained. "You 

 must not flog men on the station platform. It was 

 my duty to report." 



"How did we know that ? Why didn't you tell us ?" 



"If you had gone there" he pointed ten feet 

 away to a spot exactly like all other spots " it 

 would have been off the platform. Then I had 

 nothing to say." 



We tried to become angry. 



"But why in blazes couldn't you have told us of 

 that quietly and decently? We'd have moved." 



"It is the law " He tapped his thick book. 



"But we cannot be supposed to know by heart 

 every law in that book. Why didn't you warn us 

 before reporting?" we insisted. 



"I am truly sorry," he repeated. "I hope and 

 trust it will not prove serious. But it is in the 

 book." 



We continued in the same purposeless fashion 

 for a moment or so longer. Then the babu ended 

 the discussion thus: 



250 



