68 



FROM THE COAST TO KILIMANJARO 



with my increased gifts, and kept on demanding more, till I 



put an end to the discussion by a decisive 4 Either or 



In such difficulties with native chiefs much patience and 

 time are needed, and the delays would be endless if the travel- 

 ler dealt with them himself ; but, as a rule, we had nothing to 

 do with them, Jumbe Kimemeta and Qualla settling every- 

 thing for us. 



On March 9 I started again with a happy heart, for only 

 two men had made off this time, although nothing could have 

 been easier than flight from the camp at Kalole. We soon 

 passed Kwekongwe, the last Waruvu village ; and thence the 

 route led along the river-bank, through districts partly un- 

 inhabited and partly tenanted only by wandering tribes of 

 Masai. We halted at midday by the stream. 



Now that we were really approaching the desert the caravan 

 kept together much better. The little tents of the men were 

 pitched closer together, and the hedge of prickly bushes pro- 

 tecting our animals at night grew higher and thicker ; whilst 

 in the stillness of the evening rang out the cry of the herald of 

 the camp, Tom Charles, calling on the men to keep good 

 watch and feed well the fires. The many flickering fires, about 

 which the men gathered ever more closely, the pitchy dark- 

 ness of the night, the warning cries of the watchmen, the 

 increased precautions taken for our protection, all made me 

 fancy that Ave were at last in the real unexplored wilderness,, 

 and I was filled with delight at the thought ; but, alas ! we 

 were still far away from it, and its actual appearance turned 

 out to be very different from what I expected. 



In the night we were surprised by the arrival of Jumbe 

 Kimemeta, the Askar, Muyni Bori, from Pangani, and our 

 two latest fugitives. Kimemeta explained that when he heard 

 of the fight at Kwa Mgumi he had hastened forward, in the 

 hope of making peace and preventing further bloodshed. I 



