“TROUBLOUS TIME ST 
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understood the nature of its contents, and as he drew 
forth white tubes and blue tubes, and queer little tins, 
not only the men of Mandara believed that I was about 
to practise sorcery of the first water, but even my own 
matter-of-fact Zanzibaris fancied that something un¬ 
canny was about to take place. As for the Wa-kiboso 
I was just near enough to their hill-top to catch every 
now and then the murmurs of their wonderment at 
our actions. Quietly and expeditiously Yirapan and 
Cephas cut a few thin rods, and handed them to me to 
insert into the little extinguishers attached to some of 
the larger tubes, which were then hung up through 
staples to the upright posts. I laid out open tins of 
dusky powder on the platform of boughs, I lighted in 
readiness my bull’s-eye lantern; in short, not to weary 
the expectant reader longer, I made all the necessary 
preparations for a grand display of fireworks. No 
sooner had darkness set in than I blazed forth upon the 
astonished natives with Bengal lights, red fire, Roman 
candles, serpent squibs, and lastly a magnificent flight 
of rockets. The terrified Wa-kibdso scarcely waited 
to see the last of these. When the first rocket rose 
with a flaming shower and a shrieking rush into the 
air, and then broke well over their heads into a mass 
of blue and crimson falling meteors, our astounded 
foes fled in dismay, and we found ourselves alone on 
the field, whence we journeyed peacefully home by the 
light of a late rising moon. 
The next day we were all utterly prostrate with 
fatigue, and not in the best of humours, although 
Mandara had sent us a fat ox wherewith to feast and 
make merry. The fact was, he had accompanied his 
gift with congratulations on my tour cle force of the day 
before, and a cool request that I would proceed to 
n 2 
