THE LAST FRONTIER 



men, and the indistinct sound of voices behind a 

 leafy screen. 



We made camp comparatively early in a wide 

 open space surrounded by low forest. Almost im- 

 mediately then the savages commenced to drift 

 in, very haughty and arrogant. They were fully 

 armed. Besides the spear and decorated shield, some 

 of them carried the curious small grass spears. 

 These are used to stab upward from below, the 

 wielder lying flat in the grass. Some of these men 

 were fantastically painted with a groundwork of 

 ochre, on which had been drawn intricate wavy de- 

 signs on the legs, like stockings, and varied stripes 

 across the face. One particularly ingenious in- 

 dividual, stark naked, had outlined roughly his 

 entire skeleton! He was a gruesome object! They 

 stalked here and there through the camp, looking on 

 our men and their activities with a lofty and silent 

 contempt. 



You may be sure we had our arrangements, 

 though they did not appear on the surface. The 

 askaris, or native soldiers, were posted here and there 

 with their muskets; the gunbearers also kept our 

 spare weapons by them. The askaris could not hit 

 a barn, but they could make a noise. The gun- 

 bearers were fair shots. 



Of course the chief and his prime minister came 



262 



