200 WAR : CAMPAIGNING IN EAST AFRICA 



About this time a small party of Germans, 

 three whites and some askaris, with a picked party 

 of porters, carrying picks and shovels, tried to 

 work back towards the Rufigi to get some buried 

 ammunition ; but all their movements were 

 made known to us by the natives, and after Thorn- 

 ton's men had ambushed and scattered the party in 

 his district, we caught them all as they drifted back 

 in twos and threes, with the exception of one white 

 who was taken by Thornton. Our success in this 

 case was entirely due to the information supplied 

 from native sources. 



Later on we payed a trip to a German post at 

 a place called Ku-ku, where on our departure, 

 after taking a couple of small enemy convoys of 

 native food, and catching a white man and a few 

 askaris, we, as usual, burnt the post. From the 

 way they helped us, it was obvious that the local 

 natives were of opinion that the day of the German 

 was nearly over. One of our guides at this 

 time was a most interesting-looking nigger, whom 

 we called the " Gorilla Man." He was a very 

 big negro, with unusually prominent teeth and 

 sloping forehead, yet a remarkably intelligent 

 fellow. 



Once more the rainy season approached, and 

 the beautifully clear moonlit nights were almost 

 too bright for sleep. All this time we had been 

 working farther west and getting closer to my old 

 prison at Liwala, and at Mlembwa we were lucky 

 enough to make prisoners of twenty-six German 



