654 
African Game Trails 
marksmen, to put it mildly, and I should 
not have regarded them as particularly 
efficient allies in a serious fight; but they 
were excellent for police duty in camp, and 
were also of use in preventing collisions 
with the natives. After the leading askaris 
might come one of the headmen; one of 
whom, by the way, looked exactly like a 
beaten, and perhaps the whole line would 
burst into a chant. 
On reaching the camping ground each 
man at once set about his allotted task, and 
the tents were quickly pitched and the camp 
put in order, while water and firewood were 
fetched. The tents were pitched in long 
lines, in the first of which stood my tent, 
Semitic negro, and always travelled with a 
large dirty-white umbrella in one hand; 
while another, a tall, powerful fellow, was 
a mission boy who spoke good English; I 
mention his being a mission boy because it 
is so frequently asserted that mission boys 
never turn out well. Then would come 
the man with the flag, followed by another 
blowing on an antelope horn, or perhaps 
beating an empty can as a drum; and then 
the long line of men, some carrying their 
loads on their heads, others on their shoul¬ 
ders, others, in a very few cases, on their 
backs. As they approached the halting place 
their spirits rose, the whistles and horns 
were blown, and the improvised drums 
flanked by those of the other white men and 
by the dining tent. In the next line were 
the cook tent, the provision tent, the store 
tent, the skinning tent, and the like; and 
then came the lines of small white tents for 
the porters. Between each row of tents 
was a broad street. In front of our own 
tents in the first line an askari was always 
pacing to and fro; and when night fell we 
would kindle a camp fire and sit around it 
under the stars. Before each of the porters' 
tents was a little fire, and beside it stood the 
pots and pans in which the porters did their 
cooking. Here and there were larger fires, 
around which the gun-bearers or a group 
of askaris or of saises might gather. After 
