160 WAR: CAMPAIGNING IN EAST AFRICA 



is a post of two white men and some askaris just 

 over the hill, and I sent to tell them that you are 

 coming to see them and are quite close/' We 

 were not long in concluding our interview and 

 getting away into some thick bush again. In 

 those days we still wore our old E.A.M.R. scout 

 felt hats, so the natives on first acquaintance 

 generally took us for Germans. 



We were now working round in a south-west 

 and southerly direction towards the German 

 Central Railway. Tucker was not very plentiful 

 just about then ; still, we generally got something 

 or other each day to keep us going. At one small 

 village I well remember buying, cooking, and eat- 

 ing five great pumpkins, the only food procurable, 

 for our daily meal. The little camp in the bush 

 to which we had retired with our prey must have 

 astonished anyone who may have seen it after- 

 wards, with its heaps of pumpkin rind. 



