OUR FIRST HUNTING EXPEDITION 



able to rest it, so we decided not to go out again, 

 although we sent porters scouting round to see if 

 they could follow up the rhino of the morning, or 

 chance to find an elephant wandering about. In 

 the evening as we sat round our fire, old Masharia 

 joined us, with his boiled beans. I wanted to 

 taste one, so took one of his and peeled it — they 

 ate them with the peel on. Seeing me do this he 

 took a handful and carefully peeled them all, then 

 handed them to me in as courteous a way as any 

 cavalier of old. He was quite an old character, and 

 amused us a great deal on our safari, besides keep- 

 ing up our fire, by which he slept all night, just out- 

 side our tent door. He dried our wet boots, and 

 putties and stockings, hanging them on branches 

 round the fire. That evening my husband showed 

 him a picture of the Beecham's Pills advertisement 

 of an old man laughing heartily. It amused him 

 immensely ; he rolled about with laughter and then 

 got up and took it to show the others. We pulled 

 it out of the magazine for him, and he kept it care- 

 fully, rolled up in his blanket, every now and then 

 taking it out to gaze at and scream with laughter. 

 It did not seem to matter to him whether the 

 picture was upside down or not — very likely it 

 was when he showed it to the others. He very 

 much enjoyed my having a cigarette with him, 

 round the fire, and would patiently hold a match 

 till it burnt his fingers for me to light mine by and 



129 9 



