208 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 



to be standing at the station, and hazarding the 

 wildest guesses as to its origin and use in a babel 

 of curious native languages. I thought I would 

 provide a little entertainment for them, so I stepped 

 on to the footplate and blew off the steam, at the same 

 time sounding the whistle. The effect was simply 

 magical. The whole crowd first threw themselves 



o 



flat on the ground howling with fear, and then 

 with heads well down and arms well spread out 

 they fled wildly in all directions ; nor did the 

 stampede cease until I shut off steam and stopped 

 the whistle. Then, their curiosity gradually over- 

 powering them, very cautiously they began to 

 return, approaching the locomotive stealthily as 

 though it were some living monster of the jungle. 

 Eventually, two of their chiefs summoned up 

 courage enough to climb on to the engine, and 

 afterwards thoroughly enjoyed a short run which 

 I had to make down the line in order to bring 

 up some construction material. 



Just after this caravan had moved on we were 

 subjected to some torrential rain-storms, which 

 transformed the whole plain into a quaking bog 

 and stopped all railway work for the time being. 

 Indeed, the effect of a heavy downpour of rain in 

 this sun-baked district is extraordinary. The ground, 

 which is of a black sub-soil, becomes a mass of thick 

 mud in no time, and on attempting to do any walk- 



