Settlers and Scouts: A Tale of the African Highlands Read online

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  "The Bengali hurled the canful at his head." _See page253_.]

  SETTLERS AND SCOUTS

  _A TALE OF THE AFRICAN HIGHLANDS_

  BY

  HERBERT STRANG

  _NEW EDITION_

  HUMPHREY MILFORD OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON, EDINBURGH, GLASGOW TORONTO, MELBOURNE, CAPE TOWN, BOMBAY

  REPRINTED 1922 IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.

  PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

  The present story completes a series of three books in which I haveendeavoured to give impressions of life in the immense region known asEquatorial Africa. The scene of _Tom Burnaby_ was laid in the centre,around the great lakes; _Samba_ was concerned with the western or Congodistricts; _Settlers and Scouts_ is a story of the east, more especiallythe magnificent highland region which seems destined to become one ofthe greatest provinces of the British African Empire.

  The steady stream of emigration already flowing to British East Africais bound to swell when it is more generally recognized that in the hilldistricts of Kenya, Naivasha, and Kisumu there are vast areas ofagricultural land constituting an ideal "white man's country." In thefollowing pages I have attempted to show some of the conditions underwhich the pioneers of emigration must work. The development ofcommunications and the settlement of the remoter regions will soonrelegate such alarums and excursions as are here described to theromantic possibilities of the past. But it will be long before thelion, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus and other more or less formidableneighbours cease to be factors with which the emigrant has to reckon.

  For many facts, stranger by far than fiction, concerning the wildinhabitants, human and other, of this most interesting region, I amindebted to Mr. Arkell-Hardwick's _An Ivory Trader in North Kenya_ andColonel Patterson's _Man-Eaters of Tsavo_, among several important worksthat have appeared during recent years.

  It may be added that in the spelling of native names I have sometimesrather consulted the reader's convenience than conformed strictly torule. The name _Wanderobbo_, for instance, applied to an individual, isa solecism, the prefix _Wa_ being a sign of the plural. But it seemedbetter to err than to afflict the reader with so uncouth a form as_N'derobbo_.

  HERBERT STRANG.

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  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER THE FIRST--The Emigrants CHAPTER THE SECOND--Said Mohammed, failed B.A. CHAPTER THE THIRD--In a Game-Pit CHAPTER THE FOURTH--White Man's Magic CHAPTER THE FIFTH--Juma takes to the Bush CHAPTER THE SIXTH--Raided by Lions CHAPTER THE SEVENTH--John runs the Farm CHAPTER THE EIGHTH--Hard Pressed CHAPTER THE NINTH--A Rearguard Fight CHAPTER THE TENTH--Driving Sheep to Market CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH--Rhinoceros and Lions CHAPTER THE TWELFTH--The Sack of the Farm CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH--Tracking the Raiders CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH--Ferrier Insists CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH--A Coup de Main CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH--Juma is Reinforced CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH--John's Letter CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH--An Attack in Force CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH--Trapped CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH--Shooting the Rapids CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST--A Combined Assault CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND--A Counter Stroke CHAPTER THE TWENTY-THIRD--The Ivory CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FOURTH--Ferrier takes the Lead CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIFTH--The Fight in the Swamp CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SIXTH--Back to the Farm

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  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  THE BENGALI HURLED THE CANFUL AT HIS HEAD.

  ONE OF THE WAKAMBA SLIPPED OFF WHEN HE WAS IN MID STREAM

  THE BENGALI HURLED THE CANFUL AT HIS HEAD.

  FERRIER RAISED HIS RIFLE, AND ... BROUGHT HIM DOWN WITH A BULLET THROUGHTHE HEART

  THE HIPPO GAVE A SNORT, AND THE WATER AROUND HIM WAS AGITATED AS BY ANIMMENSE CHURN

  JOHN ORDERED HIS ASKARIS TO FIRE AMONG THE NEGROES ON THE LEFT BANK.

  MAPS

  PART OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA

  ENVIRONS OF JUMA'S FORT