"LITTLE HALF-BROTHER" 55 



he was, a little changed from his original pattern, but 

 otherwise qiiite hale and hearty. 



Among the others that came in were two promising 

 looking huskies with heads smeared with red clay, 

 wearing anklets of colobus monkey, and carrying 

 fine spears with ostrich balls on the ends. At once 

 they elected themselves headmen, refused to recog- 

 nize the authority of Bukhari, my chosen headman, 

 and tried to usurp his place. As they held some 

 sort of influence over the other blacks, I had to humor 

 them until my caravan got imder way; but I deter- 

 mined to fix them when once I had them out in the 

 desert. 



My force of blacks now numbered seventy, all 

 seasoned men, though not as yet very well disciplined. 

 For vehicles, I had my group of Willys-Khights, 

 several ox wagons, veritable droves of Abyssinian 

 donkeys — not so well disciplined, either — and a lot 

 of ungainly camels. With these, every man and 

 beast heavily laden, we made an imposing caravan 

 on the trail. 



One morning our safari was changed into a hell 

 when we saw clouds of dust on the horizon and an 

 army of Samburu came loping up, with vast herds of 

 cattle, camels, goats, and donkeys. You never heard 

 such a bellowing and bleating, nor smelt such a stench 

 of sweat, black flesh, stale one-piece skins, and dirty 

 cattle. Worst of all were the swarms of flies which, 



