WILD LIFE ACROSS THE WORLD 



The rest of the party consisted of fourteen porters, 

 an Askari or native soldier, a cook-boy, a Masai armed 

 with a murderous-looking spear, the blade of which was 

 forty-five inches in length, and, finally, a Somali boy 

 named Mahomed, a fine servant and a most amazing 

 liar. 



It is one thing to think you are ready to start with 

 a safari and quite another matter actually to get away. 

 There is delay after delay until you are almost crazy. 

 A load is not made up properly, then there is one load 

 too many, then the cook finds, or thinks he finds, that 

 some essential article has not been packed. Finally, 

 by the time you have all your gear in order and the 

 sun is getting low in the sky you discover that half the 

 carriers have gone off to bid tearful farewells to 

 problematical relations. 



On this occasion we got away just in time, camping 

 far enough from Nairobi to render it impossible for the 

 boys to dodge back and spend the night there. 



We turned in early, and it was not long before I 

 was asleep, but it was also not long before I was awake 

 again. The lions were to blame. I suppose they 

 had come to welcome us as new arrivals on the game 

 veldt. If that was so, they might have saved them- 

 selves the trouble of growling round the camp. I 

 felt not the slightest gratitude to them, as it was 

 impossible to get a flash-light picture. They kept on 

 answering each other from different sides, as if to tell 



60 



