CH. xx A DAY ON THE ATHI RIVER 219 



to rest, owing to the number of lions about, I went 

 up to them to see if I could be of any assistance, 

 and found that they were American missionaries 

 journeying to their stations further inland. They 

 were waiting for their camp equipment to arrive, 

 but their porters had been considerably delayed 

 by some very heavy rain, which of course made the 

 roads bad and the tents about double their usual 

 weight. The men of the party were expected 

 every moment with the porters, but there was as 

 yet no sign of the little caravan, and as a matter 

 of fact it did not arrive until Jong after nightfall. 

 In these circumstances it was perhaps a great 

 blessing that I happened to be there ; and as 

 the ladies were both very tired and hungry, I 

 was glad to be able to place my tent at their dis- 

 posal and to offer them as good a dinner as it 

 was possible to provide in the wilds. It is indeed 

 wonderful what dangers and hardships these deli- 

 cately nurtured ladies will face cheerfully in order to 

 carry out their self-appointed mission. 



When they had left next morning to resume their 

 journey, I started out and made a search up and 

 down the river for the proper position for my 

 temporary bridge. After a thorough examination 

 of all the possible situations, I chose the most 

 suitable and pitched my tent close to it for a night 

 or two while I made the necessary calculations for 



