In Untrodden Paths 



graphing from hill-top to hill-top, and by means of 

 it the tribesmen know in a very short space of time 

 exactly what is the strength of the column of 

 troops sent to punish them, its exact locality, 

 and the direction in which it is moving. 



They are a crafty people, their favourite method 

 of carrying on warfare being to lie hidden in the 

 thick bush and long grass in ambush for the 

 unwary. When the enemy have approached to 

 within ten or twenty yards a cloud of poisoned 

 arrows is rained upon them, and so sudden is the 

 onslaught that one cannot exactly tell from which 

 direction it comes. 



We left the train at Mohoroni Station and 

 marched some six miles up into the hills on the 

 north side of the railway to Soba, a pretty little 

 station perched on a hill-top and in the centre of 

 the section of the Nandi whom we suspected of 

 having caused the trouble. 



We set out on our patrol the following day at 

 early dawn, getting soaked to the skin by the 

 dew in the long grass through which the path 

 wound its way, and anon groping our way in the 

 semi-darkness of a primeval forest. Ferns hung 

 down from the banks all round, and long grey 

 strands of beard-moss festooned themselves from 

 tree to tree. Up and down valleys, over the bare 

 hill-sides, in and out of forests we trudged all day, 

 and not a living thing did we see. Then back 

 again we went, the way we had come, arriving at 



59 



