THE LAST PHASE 289 



never allowed a Shensi who had come into my 

 camp to leave it till we ourselves were on the move. 

 If any natives happened to be with us when we 

 made camp for the night, they had to stay with 

 us and could only return to their village next 

 morning. 



Some time previously one of the u Norforce M 

 Intelligence officers had been killed by the 

 inhabitants of this Malema district. The natives 

 guided a party of the enemy and surprised him 

 in his camp ; though severely wounded, he 

 managed with a couple of his askaris, also wounded, 

 to escape from the Germans into the bush ; but 

 the local natives, following up his spoor, speared 

 him and his two men to death. 



My kit and worldly goods did not in those days 

 amount to very much — not more than four loads 

 — and I had no tent or stretcher. My boys always 

 cut a bundle of grass for my bed each night. Food 

 we were never really short of, and we could gener- 

 ally buy it with the cloth (Americani) issued to us 

 for this purpose. We could, too, nearly always 

 obtain tnohogo in the villages, even though the 

 owners had been frightened away from the place. 

 This tnohogo is a kind of arrowroot, and, if nicely 

 baked, or, better still, fried in fat, closely resembles 

 our English potatoes. The quality varies a good 

 deal according to the soil in which it is grown, the 

 best being got in light, but good red loam. To- 

 wards the end I became quite an expert in 

 cooking this food. 



