182 



THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO 



CHAP. 



compared with that of the sun-baked valley in which 

 I had spent the previous year. 



My instructions were to hurry on the construc- 

 tion of the line as fast as possible to Nairobi, the 

 proposed headquarters of the Railway Administra- 



" FIRST THE EARTH SURFACE HAS TO BE PREPARED." 



tion, which lay about fifty miles further on across 

 the Athi Plains ; and I soon began to find plate- 

 laying most interesting work. Everything has to 

 move as if by clockwork. First the earth surface 

 has to be prepared and rendered perfectly smooth 

 and level ; cuttings have to be made and hollows 

 banked up ; tunnels have to be bored through hills 



