CHAPTER VIII 
MEETING COLONEL ROOSEVELT IN THE UTTERMOST 
OUTPOST OF SEMI-CIVILIZATION. HE TALKS OF 
MANY THINGS, HEARS THAT HE HAS BEEN 
REPORTED DEAD, AND PROMPTLY PLANS 
AN ELEPHANT HUNT 
After one has been in British East Africa two 
months he begins to readjust his preconceived 
ideas to fit real conditions. He discovers that noth¬ 
ing is really as bad as he feared it would be, and 
that distance, as usual, has magnified the terrors 
of a far-away land. In spite of the fact that he is 
in the heart of a primitive country, surrounded by 
native tribes that still are mystified by a glass mir¬ 
ror, and perhaps many days’ march from the near¬ 
est white person, he still may feel that he is in 
touch with the great world outside. His mail 
reaches him somehow or other, even if he is in the 
center of some vast unsettled district devoid of 
roads or trails. 
How it is done is a mystery; but the fact remains 
that every once in a while a black man appears as 
by magic and hands one a package containing let¬ 
ters and telegrams. He is a native “runner,” whose 
business it is to find you wherever you may be, and 
he does it, no matter how long it may take him. A 
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