258 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



volleys rang out over the grave, and we said the long farewell 

 to a dear brother, brave soldier, and delightful friend. 



In the afternoon I went 

 for a ramble in the bush and 

 gathered flowers to deck the 

 grave. This was not the sea- 

 son for flowers, but I was for- 

 tunate in finding an abundance 

 of pale purj^le thistles, that 

 formed an appropriate offer- 

 ing. Next day all the httle 

 children from the Freed Slaves' 

 Home in charge of the old 

 matron made journeys to and 

 from the river, bringing mud 

 in calabashes, and in two 

 days they had built a wall 

 round the grave, the httle 

 things enjoying the work 

 hugely. Two months later, 

 when I returned to Maifoni 

 from Lake Chad, I found a 

 cross set up over the grave. It had been very cleverly 

 constructed by Lieutenant Farmer and Sergeant Moon 

 out of the tin linings of ammunition boxes filled with 

 clay, for wood will not stand the attack of the white 

 ants. But now a very beautiful cross, the work of Mr. 

 Alexander Fisher, has taken its place. It is made of poly- 

 phant, with a figure of St. George and the badge of the Scots 

 Gaards in bronze upon the stem. As it had to be carried for 



CROSS SET TIP OVER THE (IRAVE 



