CHAPTER XX 



ABDULLAH THE COOK AND SOME INTERESTING GAS- 



TRONOMICAL EXPERIENCES. THIRTEEN TRIBES 



REPRESENTED IN THE SAFARI. ABDl's 



STORY OF HIS UNCLE AND THE 



LIONS 



OUR cook was a dark-complexioned man between 

 whom and the ace of spades there was considerable 

 rivalry. He was of that deadly night shade. He 

 was the darkest spot on the Dark Continent. After 

 dark he blended in with the night so that you 

 couldn't tell which was cook and which was night. 



His name was Abdullah, his nature was mild and 

 gentle, and his skill in his own particular sphere of 

 action was worthy of honorable mention by all re- 

 fined eaters. He was about fifty or sixty years of 

 age, five feet tall, with a smile varying from four 

 to six inches from tip to tip. It was a smile that 

 came often, and when really unfurled to its great- 

 est width it gave the pleasing effect of a dark face 

 ambushed behind a row of white tombstones. 



When Abdullah joined our safari it was freely 

 predicted that he would do well for the first month 

 or so, after which he would fade away to rank 

 mediocrity; but, strangely enough, he became bet- 

 ter and better as time went on, and during our last 



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