ng stream.

By this time we were fairly tired from long walking in the heat, and so
were content to sit down under our tent-fly before our little table, and
let Mahomet bring us sparklets and lime juice. Before us was the flat of
a meadow below the cliffs and the cliffs themselves. Just below the rise
lay a single patch of standing rape not over two acres in extent, the
only sign of human life. It was as though this little bit had overflowed
from the countless millions on the plateau above. Beyond it arose a thin
signal of smoke.

We sipped our lime juice and rested. Soon our attention was attracted
by the peculiar actions of a big flock of very white birds. They rose
suddenly from one side of the tiny rape field, wheeled and swirled like
leaves in the wind, and dropped down suddenly on the other side the
patch. After a few moments they repeated the performance. The sun caught
the dazzling white of their plumage. At first we speculated on what
they might be, then on what they were doing, to behave in so peculiar
a manner. The lime juice and the armchair began to get in their
recuperative work. Somehow the distance across that flat did not seem
quite as tremendous as at first. Finally I picked up the shotgun and
sauntered across to investigate. The cause of action I soon determined.
The owner of that rape field turned out to be an emaciated, gray-haired
but spry old savage. He was armed with a spear; and at the moment his
chief business in life seemed to be chasing a large flock of white birds
off his grain. Since he had no assistance, and since the birds held his
spear in justifiable contempt as a fowling piece, he was getting much
exercise and few results. The birds gave way before his direct charge,
flopped over to the other side, and continued their meal. They had
already occasioned considerable damage; the rape heads were bent and
destroyed for a space of perhaps ten feet from the outer edge of the
field. As this grain probably constituted the old man's food supply
for a season, I did not wonder at the vehemence with which he shook his
spear at his enemies, nor the apparent flavour of his language, though I
did marvel at his physical endurance. As for the birds, they had become
cynical and impudent; they barely fluttered out of the way.

I halted the old gentleman and hastened to explain that I was neither a
pirate, a robber, nor an oppressor of the poor. This as counter-check to
his tendency to flee, leaving me i