ly one sultan promised to get us guides and accepted a generous
present on the strength of it; but when the time came he failed to
produce them. It was at precisely this point, to be strictly accurate,
that we abandoned the polite phraseology of the court and told him with
many exclamation points that he would have to guide us himself or we
would take steps to dethrone him. Of course, all of this had to be
strained through two interpreters, but even then I think he caught the
gist of it. He said that he himself would guide us to the nearest and
largest cave.

We told him that we would be ready to start immediately after luncheon.
Only ourselves and a few men to carry cameras and guns were to
constitute our party, the rest of the _safari_ remaining in camp, from
which certain embassies were sent out to buy grain for the porters'
food.

Soon after lunch the sultan arrived and we marched away. Little by
little groups of his janissaries, mamelukes, and other members of his
official entourage joined us and by the time we reached the slope
leading up to the great cave-dwelling we had quite an imposing
procession. Most of the natives were armed with spears and knives, and
some of them had painted their bodies with red dirt and mutton grease,
and when this coating had partly dried they had traced with their
fingers many designs in stripes down their arms and legs. Some were a
light mauve in color, but most were of a rich chocolate brown. The
effect of these designs was rather pretty, but the dripping red oil from
their hair was not pretty and on a hot day exuded a strong, overpowering
odor.

Above us, nearly a thousand feet from where we stood, boldly visible in
the face of the great cliff, was the broad ledge and black opening of
the cave. A short distance to the right of it was a bright waterfall,
looking like a ribbon, but in reality quite broad and dropping in three
stages several hundred feet. An incline of forty-five degrees led up to
the cave, while up beyond that was the great stratum of solid rock that
extends for miles along the south of Mount Elgon and which is
honey-combed with hundreds of prehistoric cave-dwellings. A determined
foe stationed at the mouth of any one of the caves could defend it
against an enormous attacking force.

It was nearly an hour's climb to the ledge where the cave entrance
appeared. Several naked men armed with spears stood upon the rocks,
outlined in bold and striking relief against t