88 WAR: A SCOUTS' PATROL 



someone with fresh information concerning that 

 part of German South- West which was known to 

 me, and the German colony generally, and he 

 appeared more than favourable to making the 

 proposed move by that route. He carried me off 

 straight away to see the Minister of Defence, 

 General Smuts, in the hope of obtaining permission 

 for a small expedition. 



My mission now came to an abrupt and in- 

 glorious end. General Smuts would not hear of 

 anything being done — indeed he never listened to 

 the proposal. " It is only a hunter's idea," 

 said he, " and all hunters are mad. Look at you, 

 for instance/' he went on, " you have only just 

 had your arm broken by a lion and yet you don't 

 seem to mind." Finally the General remarked 

 that either the members of the expedition would 

 be captured and shot by the Germans, or, alter- 

 natively, that the natives would murder everybody. 

 Now, considering that I had been the greater part 

 of a year hunting amongst these tribes, myself 

 the only white man, this latter statement struck 

 me as somewhat remarkable. As a matter of 

 fact, I knew that, far from a small expedition 

 having anything to fear from the native peoples, 

 it would have been most necessary for a white 

 man whom they knew — as they knew me — to 

 keep a few days ahead of any armed force, in 

 order to prepare the inhabitants for what was 

 coming, and so, by allaying their natural anxiety, 

 induce them to sell grain, milk, etc., to the troops. 



