238 WAR: CAMPAIGNING IN EAST AFRICA 



and the Germans quickly had them. Some of 

 these bomas, and this was the serious part for us, 

 yielded considerable quantities of food, cloth, and 

 other useful booty. And this was the M Opera 

 War," this campaign of 1918 ! 



After joining Colonel Gifford, for the first few 

 weeks I was out between K.A.R. 2nd Col. and the 

 nearest " Norforce " column ; afterwards we were 

 generally out some way from the column on one 

 side or the other, seeing our troops only occasion- 

 ally and at intervals, sometimes of several weeks. 

 Great prudence marked our methods. My porters 

 and askaris had now been trained to walk through 

 the bush in silence, and to keep a strict quiet in 

 our camps at night — no small trial, for the jolly 

 sociable negro dearly loves noise and talk. How- 

 ever, by this time, having had a few good frights, 

 he had begun to see the wisdom of this camping 

 and travelling quietly. 



Moving at the first sign of light, we were gener- 

 ally camped during four or five hours of the day, 

 if possible, in some fairly thick bush, leaving a 

 little picket of two or three askaris watching some 

 way back on our spoor. During this halt all our 

 cooking and eating for the day would be done, 

 and, moving off again in the afternoon, we would 

 camp just at dark in some quiet spot in the bush 

 away from any track or road. Of course we had 

 no fires at night, and only on rare occasions, such 

 as when holding prisoners, did I ever have a 

 guard at night, thus saving my few askaris. I 



