THE LAND OF FOOTPRINTS 



produced his flashlight. This made a tremendous 

 sensation. The women tittered and giggled and 

 blinked as its beams were thrown directly into their 

 eyes; the chiefs sons grinned and gufl'awed; the 

 chief himself laughed like a pleased schoolboy, and 

 seemed never to w^eary of the sudden shutting on and 

 off of the switch. But the trusty Spartan warriors, 

 standing still in their formation behind their planted 

 spears, were not to be shaken. They glared straight 

 in front of them, even when we held the light within 

 a few inches of their eyes, and not a muscle quivered! 



"It is wonderful! wonderful!" the old man re- 

 peated. "Many Government men have come here, 

 but none have had anything like that! The bwanas 

 must be very great sultans!" 



After the departure of our friends, we went rather 

 grandly to bed. We always did after any one had 

 called us sultans. 



But our prize chief was an individual named 

 M'booley.* Our camp here also was on a fine cleared 

 hilltop between two streams. After we had traded 

 for a while with very friendly and prosperous people 

 M'booley came in. He was young, tall, straight, 

 with a beautiful smooth lithe form, and his face was 

 hawklike and cleverly intelligent. He carried him- 

 self with the greatest dignity and simplicity, meeting 



^Pronounce each o separately. 



256 



