OUR CATTLE ARE THREATENED 



369 



stopped in camp, as he was anxious to wait till Count Teleki's 

 return to secure his help in the concoction of certain powerful 

 medicines. I had been careful to give him nothing, lest I 

 should stop the supply of provisions. 



Meanwhile Jumbe Kimemeta was getting anxious about his 

 ivory trading. Ten of his men, who had been scouring the 

 country for five days, had returned, saying they had seen neither 

 Wandorobbo, Masai, nor Wakikuyu, although, according to 

 their own account, they had travelled an immense distance. 

 The next morning Kijanja, who prided himself on his know- 

 ledge of the country, went off with four men to see what he 

 could do. Just before he left, we had been warned that the 

 Wakikuyu of the north-western frontier were contemplating an 

 attack on our camp. We suspected at once that our cattle 

 were what they really wanted, and as our herds were out at 

 pasture some distance off, we thought it best to send some 

 twenty men out to protect them. We had already, in view of 

 a possible attack, set up a very high palisade round the camp, 

 but prepared as we were for eventualities, the sudden sound of 

 firing in the afternoon in the direction of our herds took us 

 aback. It was good to see how eagerly the order £ To arms ' 

 was responded to, and with what haste the men rushed out to 

 take part in the fray. But it soon turned out that the alarm 

 was caused by nothing more serious than the firing of a few 

 shots by Kijanja and his people in their delight at finding the 

 Wandorobbo at last. Kijanja had gone as far as Subugo, a 

 district on the northern base of the Aberdare range, and there 

 had met the trading caravan which had accompanied us as far 

 as Turuka. He told us that there was plenty of ivory to be 

 had there, and, as witnesses to the truth of what he said, 

 he rather thoughtlessly brought back with him ten Masai 

 moran, whose appearance in camp, of course, put an end to 

 our amicable relations with the Wakikuyu. We begged the 

 VOL. I. B B 



