CHAPTER IV 



THE BUILDING OF THE TSAVO BRIDGE 



DURING all this troublesome period the construc- 

 tion of the railway had been going steadily forward 

 and the first important piece of work which I 

 had commenced on arrival was completed. This 

 was the widening of a rock cutting through which 

 the railway ran just before it reached the river. 

 In the hurry of pushing on the laying of the line, 

 just enough of the rock had originally been cut 

 away to allow room for an engine to pass, and con- 

 sequently any material which happened to project 

 outside the wagons or trucks caught on the jagged 

 faces of the cutting. I myself saw the door of a 

 guard's van, which had been left ajar, smashed to 

 atoms in this way ; and accordingly I put a gang of 

 rock-drillers to work at once and soon had ample 

 room made for all traffic to pass unimpeded. While 

 this was going on, another gang of men were laying 

 the foundations of a girder bridge which was to span 



