pair of snorty old rhinos, step out
into what has seemed practically his own back yard home, he is even more
startled than if he had encountered them in quite strange surroundings.
We rode into the grass meadow and picked camp site. The men trailed in
and dumped down their loads in a row.
At a signal they set to work. A dozen to each tent got them up in a
jiffy. A long file brought firewood from the stream bed. Others carried
water, stones for the cook, a dozen other matters. The tent boys rescued
our boxes; they put together the cots and made the beds, even before the
tents were raised from the ground. Within an incredibly short space of
time the three green tents were up and arranged, each with its bed made,
its mosquito bar hung, its personal box open, its folding washstand
ready with towels and soap, the table and chairs unlimbered. At a
discreet distance flickered the cook campfire, and at a still discreeter
distance the little tents of the men gleamed pure white against the
green of the high grass.
V. MEMBA SASA
I wish I could plunge you at once into the excitements of big game in
Africa, but I cannot truthfully do so. To be sure, we went hunting that
afternoon, up over the low cliffs, and we saw several of a very lively
little animal known as the Chandler's reedbuck. This was not supposed to
be a game country, and that was all we did see. At these we shot several
times-disgracefully. In fact, for several days we could not shoot
at all, at any range, nor at anything. It was very sad, and very
aggravating. Afterward we found that this is an invariable experience to
the newcomer. The light is new, the air is different, the sizes of the
game are deceiving. Nobody can at first hit anything. At the end of five
days we suddenly began to shoot our normal gait. Why, I do not know.
But in this afternoon tramp around the low cliffs after the elusive
reedbuck, I for the first time became acquainted with a man who
developed into a real friend.
His name is Memba Sasa. Memba Sasa are two Swahili words meaning "now a
crocodile." Subsequently, after I had learned to talk Swahili, I tried
to find out what he was formerly, before he was a crocodile, but did not
succeed.
He was of the tribe of the Monumwezi, of medium height, compactly
and sturdily built, carried himself very erect, and moved with a
concentrated and vigorous purposefulness. His countenance might be
described as pleasing but not handsome, of a
|