208 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 
to be standing at the station, and hazarding the 
wildest guesses as to its origin and use in a babel 
of curious native languages. I thought I would 
provide a little entertainment for them, so I stepped 
on to the footplate and blew off the steam, at the same 
time sounding the whistle. The effect was simply 
magical. The whole crowd first threw themselves 
flat on the ground howling with fear, and then— 
with heads well down and arms well spread out— 
they fled wildly in all directions; nor did the 
stampede cease until I shut off steam and stopped 
the whistle. Then, their curiosity gradually over- 
powering them, very cautiously they began to 
return, approaching the locomotive  stealthily as 
though it were some living monster of the jungle. 
Eventually, two of their chiefs summoned up 
courage enough to climb on to the engine, and 
afterwards thoroughly enjoyed a short run which 
I had to make down the line in order to bring 
up some construction material. 
Just after this caravan had moved on we were 
subjected to some torrential rain-storms, which 
transformed the whole plain into a quaking bog 
and stopped all railway work for the time being. 
Indeed, the effect of a heavy downpour of rain in 
this sun-baked district is extraordinary. The ground, 
which is of a black sub-soil, becomes a mass of thick 
mud in no time, and on attempting to do any walk- 
Wee 
~ sree, 
