UNCANNY COOKERY 



and introduce all sorts of side talk about his brothers 

 and the rest of the family. 



At the next village my khaki knickers became unfit 

 for further service, and as I had not another pair with 

 me, the bulk of my personal effects being at Wadelai, I 

 had to construct a pair out of the trade cloth. Comfort 

 being the first consideration and appearance the last, I 

 laid the old pair on a piece of cloth and marked round 

 them with a piece of copying pencil, this was repeated 

 again, and the two pieces of cloth were then sewn 

 together. 



When four days from Wadelai and in sight of the 

 hilly country to the west, the two guides who had accom- 

 panied me from Wadelai suddenly departed in the night. 

 To their credit, let it be said that they did not " borrow " 

 anything. The previous day they had betrayed a con- 

 siderable feeling of nervousness when seeing the hilly 

 country ahead, and I had no doubt as to their motive 

 for returning to Wadelai, where on my return some weeks 

 later I found them, and they were not at all abashed at 

 their cowardice. 



At one village we came upon when nearing the Mullah 

 close to the hills that run to the lake, above Mahagi from 

 the west, the fields were deserted and the huts close by 

 lay in ruins. Passing on we came, about an hour later, 

 to a number of huts surrounded by a dense thorn hedge, 

 behind which the people were now sheltered shouting 

 wildly. For a considerable time they refused to answer 

 the questions put to them by my boys ; presently, how- 

 ever, one of them shouted to us to take a certain path 

 that would lead us away from the village, which advice 

 I acted upon and camped shortly after on a nice piece 

 of ground void of grass that lay a half mile from the 

 village we had just passed, and could now gaze down 

 upon. The people still remained behind the hedge 

 chattering and yelling for all they were worth. I was 



iig 



