AFRICAN CAMP FIRES 



passed what we thought must be our landmark hill 

 just eleven times. The map showed only one butte; 

 as a matter of fact there v/ere dozens. At each 

 disappointment we had to reconstruct our theories. 

 It is the nature of man to do this hopefully — Tsavo 

 Station must be just around the next bend. We 

 marched six hours without pause; then began to 

 save ourselves a little. By all the gods of logical 

 reasoning we proved Tsavo just beyond a certain 

 fringe of woods. When we arrived we found that 

 there the river broke through a range of hills by way 

 of a deep gorge. It was a change from the ever- 

 lasting scrub, with its tumbling waters, its awful 

 cliffs, its luxuriant tropical growths; but it was by 

 that the more difficult to make our way through. 

 Beyond the gorge we found any amount of hills, 

 kopjes, buttes, sugar loafs, etc., each isolated from 

 its fellows, each perfectly competent to serve as 

 the map's single landmark. 



We should have camped, but we were very anxious 

 to make that train; and we were convinced that 

 now, after all that work, Tsavo could not be far 

 away. It would be ridiculous and mortifying to 

 find we had camped almost within sight of our desti- 

 nation ! 



The heat was very bad, and the force of the sun 

 terrific. It seemed to possess actual physical 



240 



