aylight would presently reverse conditions
and put them at disadvantage.

I grew restless and got up. The air being chilly, I put my clothes on
and sat for a while by the window. So it happened I caught sight of
Hassan, very much afraid of lions, but obviously more afraid of being
seen from the hotel windows. He was sneaking along as close to the
house as he could squeeze, his head just visible above the veranda rail.

For no better reason than that I was curious and unoccupied, I slipped
out of the house and followed him.

Once clear of the hotel he seemed to imagine himself safe, for without
another glance backward he ran up-street in the direction of the
bazaar. I followed him down the bazaar--a short street of corrugated
iron buildings--and out the other end. Being fat, he could not run
fast, although his wind held out surprisingly. If he saw me at all he
must have mistaken me for a settler or one of the Nairobi officials,
for he seemed perfectly sure of himself and took no pains whatever now
to throw pursuers off the track.

It soon became evident that he was making for an imposing group of
tents on the outskirts of the town. As he drew nearer he approached
more slowly.

It now became my turn to take precautions. There was no chance of
concealment where I was--nothing but open level ground between me and
the tents. But now that I knew Hassan's destination, I could afford to
let him out of sight for a minute; so I turned my back on him, walked
to where a sort of fold in the ground enabled me to get down unseen
into a shallow nullah, and went along that at right angles to Hassan's
course until I reached the edge of some open jungle, about half a mile
from the tents. I noticed that it came to an end at a spot about three
hundred yards to the rear of the tents, so I worked my way along its
outer edge, and so approached the encampment from behind.

I had brought a rifle with me, not that I expected to shoot anything,
but because the lion incident of the previous afternoon had taught me
caution. It had not entered my head that in that country a strange
white man without a rifle might have been regarded as a member of the
mean white class; nor that anybody would question my right to carry a
rifle, for that matter.

The camp was awake now. There were ten tents, all facing one way. Two
of them contained stores. The central round tent with an awning in
front was obviously a white man's. One tent housed