It Was A Case Of
The Survival Of The Fittest, As Of Course It Was Quite
Impossible For The Whole Caravan To Halt In The
Wilderness Where Neither Food Nor Water Was To
Be Had.
There was only one European with the
party, and although he worked like a slave he
could do very little among such a number, while
the Basoga themselves seemed quite indifferent
to the sufferings of their comrades.
Thirteen
poor wretches fell out to die close to my tent;
they were in the most hopeless condition and far
too weak to be able to do anything at all for
themselves. As soon as I discovered them, I boiled
a bucketful of water, added some tins of
condensed milk and the greater part of a bottle of
brandy to it, and fed them with the mixture.
Their feeble cries for some of this nourishment
were heartrending; some could only whisper,
"Bwana, Bwana" ("Master, Master"), and then
open their mouths. One or two of them, indeed,
could hardly do even this, and were so weak as
to be unable to swallow the spoonful of milk
which I put between their lips. In the end six
proved to be beyond all help, and died that night;
but the remaining seven I managed to nurse into
complete recovery in about a fortnight's time.
As our camp was moved on, they were brought
along from place to place on the top of trucks,
until finally they were well enough to resume their
journey to Usoga, very grateful indeed for the
care which we had taken of them.
The day after I first found these stricken
natives I had arranged to ride on my pony for
some miles in advance of the railway, in order to
make arrangements for the building of a
temporary bridge over the Stony Athi River - a
tributary of the Athi, and so-called on account of
the enormous numbers of stones in its bed and
along its banks. I ordered my tent to follow
me later in the day, and left directions for the
care of the sick Basoga, as I knew I should be
away all night. My road lay along the route
taken by the home-returning caravan, and every
hundred yards or so I passed the swollen corpse
of some unfortunate porter who had fallen out
and died by the wayside. Before very long I
came up with the rearguard of this straggling
army, and here I was witness of as unfeeling
an act of barbarism as can well be imagined. A
poor wretch, utterly unable to go a step further,
rolled himself up in his scarlet blanket and lay
down by the roadside to die; whereupon one of
his companions, coveting the highly-coloured and
highly-prized article, turned back, seized one end
of the blanket, and callously rolled the dying man
out of it as one would unroll a bale of goods.
This was too much for me, so I put spurs to
my pony and galloped up to the scoundrel,
making as if to thrash him with my kiboko,
or whip made of rhinoceros hide. In a moment
he put his hand on his knife and half drew
it from its sheath, but on seeing me dismount
and point my rifle at him, he desisted and tried
to run away. I made it clear to him by signs,
however, that I would fire if he did not at once
go back and replace the blanket round his
dying comrade. This he eventually did, though
sullenly enough, and I then marched him in front
of me to the main camp of the caravan, some
little distance further on. Here I handed him
over to the officer in charge, who, I am glad to
say, had him soundly thrashed for his brutality
and theft.
After performing this little act of retributive
justice, I pushed on towards the Stony Athi. On
the way - while still not far from the caravan
camp - I spied a Grant's gazelle in the distance,
and by the aid of my glasses discovered that it
was a fine-looking buck with a capital pair of
horns. A few Basoga from the caravan had
followed me, doubtless in the hope of obtaining
meat, of which they are inordinately fond; so,
handing them my pony, I wriggled from tuft to
tuft and crawled along in the folds of the ground
until eventually I got near enough for a safe
shot, which bowled the antelope over stone-dead.
Scarcely had he dropped when the Basoga
swooped down on him, ripped him open, and
devoured huge chunks of the raw and still
quivering flesh, lapping up the warm blood in the
palms of their hands. 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.
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