THE CAMP ON FIRE 



177 



There was no doubt that these three natives of Mwika were all 

 our men had seen, so we sent for the heroes and confronted 

 them with our visitors. Juma Mussa was at first speechless 

 with astonishment at the truth coming out so soon, but he stuck 

 to his original assertion. His companion Ulaya, an intelligent 

 little fellow from Unyamwesi, was not a bit ashamed to own 

 that these three natives were the only people they had seen, 

 adding, ' And I said to him, No, Juma Mussa, let's go on ; those 

 are no Masai.' 



Our preparations for the ascent of the mountain were 

 completed on June 8, and we decided to start the next morning. 

 We were having supper on this our last evening when a fire in 

 the camp alarmed us. Fortunately it began at the further 

 end and there was no wind, but in next to no time a dozen 

 huts were in flames ; the dry rushes with which they were 

 thatched burnt rapidly, the cartridges which had been left 

 in the huts, with now and then a powder horn, exploded, the 

 flames leaped up afresh as some weapon became red hot, whilst 

 the heat and noise were terrible. We saw it was useless to 

 attempt to save anything already on fire, so we directed all our 

 energies to cutting off the supply of fuel, tearing down huts, 

 dragging away stores, &c., and not until they were all out of 

 danger had we time to pour water on the still smouldering 

 embers. 



We started on June 9 with sixty-two porters. The beauti- 

 ful blue sky was perfectly cloudless, and Kibo, the goal of our 

 wanderings, stood out clear and distinct before us, its majestic 

 outlines inspiring even the thoughtless natives with something 

 like awe. We made our entry into Marangu in the midst of 

 firing from both sides, some few explosive bullets even being 

 let off* amongst the blank cartridges. Miriali received us as 

 before in a flowing red toga. His sharp eyes at once spied 

 the eighteen-shot repeater Count Teleki had promised him, and 

 VOL. I. N 



