DESERTERS. 
43 
the thermometer never registered below 70° unless we 
were in the mountains. The rifles pleased our men 
immensely, and made them feel quite proud of them¬ 
selves ; they played with them like children with new 
toys, and as there were no less than a hundred and 
thirty of these weapons, there were just so many 
chances of a stray bullet finding an unintended human 
billet; but we managed to escape any such catastrophe, 
and the only thing that ever got hit, by an accident, 
was our big tent. 
Up to the present we had only lost seven men by 
desertion, a singularly small average, as, whenever 
caravans start for the interior, there are always a 
number of rascals who readily enlist in order to obtain 
the two months’ advance pay, and have every inten¬ 
tion of slipping back to the coast on the first oppor¬ 
tunity. For this reason one has to be very wide awake 
during the earlier marches, and to look sharply after the 
muster roll. Later on there is less fear of desertion, as, 
once well away from the coast, the majority are a great 
deal too timid to venture upon returning to it alone. 
The loss of these seven men did not cause us much in¬ 
convenience, for, thanks to Mr. Jones, we were able to 
replace them. One intending deserter, who had pawned 
his rifle at Rabai, we caught and immediately handcuffed 
as a wholesome warning to all the rest. 
The march to Taveta I propose describing by giving 
extracts from my journal, which I hope may prove less 
wearisome to the reader than the actual journey did 
to us. 
