CHAPTER XX 
ABDULLAH THE COOK AND SOME INTERESTING GAS- 
TRONOMICAL EXPERIENCES. THIRTEEN TRIBES 
REPRESENTED IN THE SAFARI. ABDl’s 
STORY OF HIS UNCLE AND THE 
LIONS 
Our cook was a dark-complexioned man between 
whom and the ace of spades there was considerable 
rivalry. He was of that deadly night shade. He 
was the darkest spot on the Dark Continent. After 
dark he blended in with the night so that you 
couldn’t tell which was cook and which was night. 
His name was Abdullah, his nature was mild and 
gentle, and his skill in his own particular sphere of 
action was worthy of honorable mention by all re¬ 
fined eaters. He was about fifty or sixty years of 
age, five feet tall, with a smile varying from four 
to six inches from tip to tip. It was a smile that 
came often, and when really unfurled to its great¬ 
est width it gave the pleasing effect of a dark face 
ambushed behind a row of white tombstones. 
When Abdullah joined our safari it was freely 
predicted that he would do well for the first month 
or so, after which he would fade away to rank 
mediocrity; but, strangely enough, he became bet¬ 
ter and better as time went on, and during our last 
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