That Evening I Very Nearly Burnt Our
Camp; I Had Several Times Ordered The Men To Clear Away The Dry
Grass For About Thirty Yards From Our Resting-Place; This They
Had Neglected To Obey.
We had been joined a few days before by a
party of about a dozen Hamran Arabs, who were hippopotami
hunters; thus we mustered very strong, and it would have been the
work of about half an hour to have cleared away the grass as I
had desired.
The wind was brisk, and blew directly towards our camp, which was
backed by the river. I accordingly took a fire-stick, and I told
my people to look sharp, as they would not clear away the grass.
I walked to the foot of the basalt hill, and fired the grass in
several places. In an instant the wind swept the flame and smoke
towards the camp. All was confusion; the Arabs had piled the
camel-saddles and all their corn and effects in the high grass
about twenty yards from the tent; there was no time to remove all
these things; therefore, unless they could clear away the grass
so as to stop the fire before it should reach the spot, they
would be punished for their laziness by losing their property.
The fire travelled quicker than I had expected, and, by the time
I had hastened to the tent, I found the entire party working
frantically; the Arabs were slashing down the grass with their
swords, and sweeping it away with their shields, while my
Tokrooris were beating it down with long sticks and tearing it
from its withered and fortunately tinder-rotten roots, in
desperate haste.
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