El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-01-23
PROVES
ELUSIVE; TAKES
FL.GHTINH NIGHT
Troops Stand Guard All
Night and Find Their
Labor Wasted.
WAR IN AFRICA
HAS COMIC SIDE


EAST Afrita has its funny sides
- according 70 the following from q
volunteer who Joined at Nairobi
u Joined the East African regiment
Of volunteers the day the war broke
out; it was a rush, I can tell you. /
simply shut the office door, rushed
home and got a few odd things to-
rether in my old soiled linen bag, re-
turned to town, was given a khaki
shirt. rifle and 100 rounds of ammunl-
ton. was marched to the station popped
in a train. third-cIass native carriages
with a miscellaneous collection Of pots
and pans and timed food, and before
7 knew where I was the train stopper
on the side of the line about ten mlies
from NaiVasha, within sight OF the
lake and at Z o'clock in the evening
seven OF us were tipped out IN pltch
darkness on to the track and told 10
guard the bridge over the Morendat
river.
Guard Mythical Bridge.
ct was bitterly cold, we hau no
light, couldn't see where we were IN
the least, and felt very lost In the
morning we looked for the bridge We
were supposed TO be guarding ana
couldn't find a sign Of il. We decided
Mace. and collected all our stuff ana
walked down to where there was
small culvert, which we thought mlSnI
be the place. It was hot carrying an
the food for seven mel. for fortnight
..sbortIv after this train came
along. so we stopped and found an Of
ffcer on board who said there was
bridge Ca real one) about tnree mrs
hack so the next morning we again
trekked back to this
Is Wrong Bridge.
after building ourselves quite de-
cent little hut and getting every lllI6
I'm order. a messenger DrouShI d -
70 saw we were still at the wrong pIdCe,
60 We had to pack all up again anu
-i,,I1v- cot TO the proper post, which
vas a very big iron bridge over a large
7-i,-er about 200 feet belOW-only the
sleeDers to walk on, so you had 10 DC
careful not to fall through
we pitched camp there, anu n ',I,',a
all was we'll but another officer came
along and said our camp could be seen
NV aeroplanes. and so we had 10 move
If again under the bridge ana cover
ourselves with grass and prdhCHes-
Then a messenger came rushlhe dlOi!5
with a note. Germans advancing III
force with two aeroplanes; you mus mus
hold your post till the end'-nice news
Tor seven unframed and ill-equlpped
men. Still we posted sentries, Two TO-
CrprheT. and bullL OURSELVES o. oSI .
fort, and hoped for the best
II nearly got frightened out OF my
life when one night great iaI Ola
rhinocerous suddenly bluudered through
the bushes close to me. IelI sure -
was Germans. and reused the camp anu
We were all waiting ready Tor the mex
sound, when with terrluc gruht ne
fell smack over the edge OF the CHI
and half rolled and half jumped, bang
into the river, nearly 200 Ieet 10 IAN.
He made an enormous splash; the spray
came on the bridge.
Are Moved Again.
eve stopped here about ten days, and
then, without any warning, lIdll
drew up. and we were told 70 get on
board as fast as possible we piled our
selves and goods on to truck, ana
got off when we were told that the
Germans were marching on Ngong- ana
never had been near US before; also
the aeropianes were myth. they had
none.
neuvers. We expected TO have good
time there as it was cool and pretty.
was made mOtor-cyclist orderly by
this time everybody seemed TO nave
made UP their minds that there were
no Germans to worry us, but without
any warning. while I was waiting
about the staff office in the morning,
the general rushed out with dispatch
and said For Gods sake, get out as
soon as YOU can with this; there are
1000 regular German white troops
marching on Won
Does Some swift Travelling.
"I lit out for NgOng with my head
on the tank. and did ten miles over
that awful road in twenty minutes.
7 smashed the front stand and most
Of the mudguard right off, took two
spokes out Of the back wheel had one
fearful smash, and ought TO have brOk-
en- my neck. but didn't only skinned
my knees. broke the speedometer, took
off a footboard and a big piece out of
the tire, besides squashinE my lamp
flat I delivered my message in
cloud of dust and blood TO the major
in the middle of a parade.
you should have seen the excite
menti Tents were pulled down in a
heap and flung into carts. 7 chased
donkeys for miles to get them loaded
up with ammunition. the dinner which
was nearly cooked, was put on the
carts all hot in the pots, and in half an
hour we were on the road back.
zone Of the carts ran away down the
hill. hit my old jigger which was be
side the road, and then turned over
crash into the stream with the bicycle
under il. myself nearly crying on top
eight oxen in the river on their backs.
with a cart and my old machine all
mixed UP in il. but Providence helped
again. got il out looking much the