s. He lost no time about
it, but returned panting, and lay down in a hollow behind us with
cartridges in either fist and a grin on his face that would have done
credit to a circus clown. I never, anywhere, saw any one more pleased
than Kazimoto at the prospect of a fight.

We let the cattle through and lay hidden, waiting for the raiders.
They were in full war dress, which is to say as nearly naked as
possible except for their spears, a leg ornament made from the hair of
the colobus monkey, a leather apron hung on just as suited the
individual wearer's fancy, a great shield, and an enormous
ostrich-feather head-dress. They seemed in no hurry, for they probably
guessed that the cattle would stop to graze again when the first scare
was over; yet they came along as smoke comes, swiftly and easily,
making no noise.

Suddenly those in the lead caught sight of our boys getting behind the
cattle to herd them northward. They halted to hold
consultation--apparently decided that they had only unarmed natives to
deal with--and came on again, faster than before.

"Better open fire now!" said Brown, when they were still a quarter of a
mile away.

"Wait till you can see their eyes!" Will advised. "An unexpected
volley at close quarters will do more havoc than hours of long-range
shooting.

"This ain't a long range!" Brown objected. "As for unexpected--just
watch me startle 'em! My sight's fixed at four hundred. Watch!"

He fired--we wished he had not. The leading Masai of the right-hand
column jerked his head sidewise as the whistling bullet passed, and
then there was nothing for it but to follow his lead and blaze away for
all we were worth. If Brown had been willing to accept Will's advice
there is nothing more likely than that the close-quarter surprise would
have won the day for us. We would have done much more execution with
three volleys at ten-yard range. As it was, we all missed with our
finest shots, and the Masai took heart and charged in open order.

The worst of it was that, although we dropped several of them, now the
others had a chance to discover there were only three of us. Their
leader shouted. The right-hand column continued to attack, but changed
its tactics. The left-hand party made a circuit at top speed,
outflanked us, and pursued the cattle.

Supposing my count was right, we had laid out, either wounded or dead,
seven of the crowd attacking us. This left perhaps fourteen against
us,