38 AFRICA SPEAKS 



yard back of the hotel this morning. Now we stepped 

 out through the rear door to where our two trucks were 

 parked. They looked quite neat and trim, but maybe 

 that was because we had nothing to compare them to. 

 As we gazed upon them, with a certain amount of 

 pride, we heard the roar of another motor, and amid a 

 bhnding cloud of dust, up sped the new driver in 

 Blixen's dream child. 



There it stood Hke a grotesque cartoon; out of joint, 

 out of plumb, with no resemblance to the marvelous 

 veldt cruiser so proudly described to me by the Baron. 

 Mike strolled up to the thing as I have often seen him 

 do when approaching a rhino. After one long look he 

 said seriously, "Don't think it will hold together as 

 far as Moshi, but we'll put a few more nails into it 

 before we start and hope for the best." Then he sent 

 a boy after the man responsible for this dream which 

 turned out to be a nightmare, with instructions to 

 bring back nails, hammer, and wire. 



We completed loading our two trucks with all the 

 miscellaneous equipment, films, and cameras, then 

 drove around to a garage where the Vacuum Oil Com- 

 pany had arranged for us to load up with gasohne and 

 Mobiloil. This company had undertaken the tre- 

 mendous task of supplying these necessary items 

 throughout the course of the expedition. To lay down 

 suppHes across central Africa from one coast to the 

 other, it would be necessary to send gasohne and oil 

 to predetermined points, some up the Congo Biver 

 and then into the interior by dugout canoes, some by 

 camelback into the sand country near the Sahara, 

 and some on the heads of porters into the swamp and 

 bush country. The difficulties were even greater than 



