10 CHIEFS & CITIES OF CENTRAL AFEICA 



He had seen the late Kaiser Wilhelm also, and had 

 been much impressed with a dinner to 200 people 

 at the palace. He spoke English fluently, and re- 

 membered clearly the various places he had visited, 

 judging them by their wealth of produce. He was 

 courtly in manner, and appeared really interested in 

 Mr Talbot's projects, but Mrs Talbot and I counted 

 for exactly nothing at all. 



On our return from the market one day we lunched 

 with Mr and Mrs Stone, when our conversation was 

 interrupted by a loud noise from the servants' quarters. 

 We all hurried round, to see one boy balancing on 

 a stick, another on a dresser, both in abject terror 

 because they had seen a large cobra in the kitchen. 

 Unluckily it had made good its escape, and though 

 we went in pursuit, armed with polo sticks, we failed 

 to find it. Mr Talbot was annoyed with me for 

 having joined in the search, and, though perhaps 

 on this occasion he had reason on his side, I foresaw 

 that more serious difficulties might arise when it 

 was a question of big game shooting. I therefore 

 determined to learn how to handle a rifle, an art of 

 which I was completely ignorant, and Major Rose, 

 who was then in command of the battalion, very 

 kindly volunteered to teach me. We went up to 

 the range every morning, and on the first day, out 

 of ten shots, I hit the target twice and got a bufl's-eye 

 once — to my overweening triumph. My instructors 

 did less well, and it was explained that after a 

 while the climate affects the eye : the climate is 

 the proverbial cat of Africa. They were sad, but 

 resigned ; and it was only at my next lesson, when 

 the crack marksman came and failed to do better, 



