46 THE LAND OF THE LION 



my heart: A good tracker, a splendid hunter, a self-sacri- 

 ficing guardian, a heathen and a gentleman, all this and 

 more, and I believe we shall remember each other so long 

 as we live. I never knew him to confess to being tired. 

 He always did his own job well, and what was wonderful 

 in a native, he seemed to take genuine pleasure in helping 

 less efficient workers to do theirs. He would, without 

 any request being made, aid John in the tent, arrange 

 my bed, help with cooking or track a lost mule. I would 

 find him fastening with a firm knot the shaky bundle 

 of some tired or inefficient porter. The totos loved him 

 (I tell the totos story later). He would have a handful 

 of ground nuts or a bit of sugar cane for them. As we 

 marched along, some porter behind us was sure to find 

 on a rock or stump Kongoni's cigarette, not burned to a 

 stump. Don't smile! That meant a real bit of self- 

 denial, and met with appreciation. If a man broke down 

 Kongoni was the first to take up his load, a thing no self- 

 respecting gunboy was supposed to do. "Brownie" I 

 christened him, for, as his photograph shows, he was the 

 very picture of one of the "Brownies." He was very 

 strong, though he had no more flesh on him than has a 

 Daddy Longlegs, and he couldn't hit a barn door, if his 

 life depended on it. Clear grit all through, devoted to 

 his little wife, a true friend, a real man, is "Brownie." 

 I greatly fear I shall be accused of inventing an impossible 

 black paragon, but after eight months of camp life and 

 danger shared together, I may reasonably, I think, claim 

 to know something whereof I speak, and I am only describ- 

 ing a man as I found him and proved him. 



The sefari cook is an important personage. He liter- 

 ally makes you or mars you, and a good, cleanly and 

 honest cook is not found every day. Still, the East African 

 has a natural bent for cooking. He cooks his own rice 

 when he is not in too great a hurry, as none but the man 



