CHAPTER VIII 



MEETING COLONEL ROOSEVELT IN THE UTTERMOST 



OUTPOST OF SEMI-CIVILIZATION. HE TALKS OF 



MANY THINGS, HEARS THAT HE HAS BEEN 



REPORTED DEAD, AND PROMPTLY PLANS 



AN ELEPHANT HUNT 



AFTER one has been in British East Africa two 

 months he begins to readjust his preconceived 

 ideas to fit real conditions. He discovers that noth- 

 ing is really as bad as he feared it would be, and 

 that distance, as usual, has magnified the terrors 

 of a far-away land. In spite of the fact that he is 

 in the heart of a primitive country, surrounded by 

 native tribes that still are mystified by a glass mir- 

 ror, and perhaps many days' march from the near- 

 est white person, he still may feel that he is in 

 touch with the great world outside. His mail 

 reaches him somehow or other, even if he is in the 

 center of some vast unsettled district devoid of 

 roads or trails. 



How it is done is a mystery ; but the fact remains 

 that every once in a while a black man appears as 

 by magic and hands one a package containing let- 

 ters and telegrams. He is a native "runner," whose 

 business it is to find you wherever you may be, and 

 he does it, no matter how long it may take him. A 



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