In Return For The Meat
Which I Gave Them, Two Of Them Willingly Agreed
To Go On With Me And Carry The Head And Haunch
Of The Gazelle.
When we had got very nearly
to the place where I intended to camp for the
night, a great wart-hog suddenly jumped up
almost at my horse's feet, and as he had very fine
and exceptionally long tusks, I dismounted at
once and bagged him too.
The Basoga were
delighted at this, and promptly cut off the head;
but my own people, who arrived with my tent
just at this juncture, and who were all good
Mohammedans, were thoroughly disgusted at the
sight of this very hideous-looking pig.
I camped for the night on the banks of the
Stony Athi, close to where the railway was to
cross, and made my notes of what was necessary
for the temporary bridge. At the time the river
was absolutely dry, but I knew that it might at
any moment become a roaring torrent if rain
should set in; it would therefore be necessary
to span it with a forty-foot girder in order
to prevent constant "washouts" during the rainy
season. The next morning I started early on
my return to railhead. On my way I had to
pass the camp which the Basoga caravan had
just left, but the spectacle of about a dozen
newly-made graves which the hyenas had already
torn open caused me to put spurs to my horse
and to gallop as fast as possible through the
pestilential spot.
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