WE START HOUSEKEEPING 



arrangements, decorated with photographs in silver 

 frames and vases of flowers. 



During the first day or two a strange boy ap- 

 peared, who silently made our beds and helped 

 Baruku. On inquiring who he was and why he 

 was there, Baruku said he was his brother Ah, who 

 wished to be our servant. We waited nearly a 

 week to see how he worked before we finally ar- 

 ranged about pay and took him on for good. 



Ali is quite a character also, as well as Baruku^ 

 and needs a description. He was not really 

 Baruku's brother, but brother is a term generally 

 used to mean friend. Ali was some years younger 

 than Baruku, and a Masai by birth, but when a 

 little chap he lost his father in a raid, or during the 

 famine, and was adopted by Baruku's real and elder 

 brother, who was an askari in the 3rd Battalion 

 King's African Rifles. It was now time for Ali to 

 earn his own living. He remained with us until seven 

 weeks before we left Zanzibar for England, and for 

 over a year and a half a better boy could not be found. 

 He worked well and never seemed to want to leave 

 the bungalow, was silent, thoughtful and clean, and 

 as he knew Masai, Swahili, Kikuyu and Kikamba — 

 no English however — he acted as interpreter on 

 many occasions. My friends envied me my Ali, 

 but how he came to leave my service will be seen 

 later. Unlike Baruku he was very nice looking 

 with the good and refined features of the Masai. 



49 4 



