Evening star., 1924-07-27

sumo the march to Sobat, and we
entered the Soma {postj about half
an hour later.
Hyde-Baker and his little garrison
gave us very glad welcome. They
told US that they had withstood the
determined attack of thousands of
the Nandi all day and for most of the
night, without suffering any casual
ties. They had run short of ammu
milton just about the time that the
rain fell; and the Nandi had then
withdrawn. So the rain had been
providential.
The Nandi did not again attack
Sobat; but l remained there to help
guard the post until the punitive
expedition arrived from Nairobi.
Fortunately. the government for long
had been greatly annoyed by. the
murders and other crimes committed
by the Nandi, and a punitive force
was being prepared in Nairobi to
be launched against the tribe and
bring them to their senses when the
news of the attack on Sobat precipi-
tated matters. Two regiments of the
Kings African Rifles and a column
of East African police were detailed
for the task of bringing the Nandi
to a proper sense Of the conduct that
alone would be tolerated from them.
The punitive force was assembled
at Muhoroni The I'd and Sd Bat
talions of the Kings African Rifles,
the latter a fine regiment of Yaos
from Nyasaland who had done mag
nif1cent service in a recent campaign,
divided into four different columns,
while I was given command of the
police column, operating along the
railroad track and the foothills Of the
Nandi country. My work was to stop
the Nandi warriors and to prevent
their cattle from being driven into
the country of the Lumbwa, their
the railroad.
For some time the column oper-
ated about the Nandi country, but
was unable to bring the tribesmen to
stand and fight. We burned every
village to the ground, and many
thousands of cattle and other live
stock were captured. But still the
Nandi were defiant and their Laibon
(chief medicine man and king) re-
fused to sue for peace. 1t began to
look as il no good results were ever
going to come of that large and cost
ly punitive force.
I had made my headquarters at
Muhoroni. very bad spot for mala-
rial fever, and operated my force
over the large area for which I was
responsible from this point. Being
on the railroad and close to the
Nandi boundary, it was a most con-
venient position for me.
One afternoon a native spy arrived
in my camp and reported that he
knew where the Laibon of the Nandi
tribe was in hiding. He offered to
guide me to the place. As he was
Nasal. and therefore a hereditary
and traditional enemy OF the Nandi,
it looked as IL there might be some
thing in his story. Anyway, it
seemed worth while to me to take a
chance on 1t.
DIRECTLY it was dark I set out
II with my guide for the Nandi ter
ritory. l took with me dozen Of my
very best and most reliable native
policemen, all Of them erstwhile Ma
sal warriors. had previously warned
my guide that at the very first sign
of treachery he would be killed. He
only grinned.
There was no moon that night, and
only the stars gave us any light for
our long journey. Hour after hour we
trailed along the narrow and winding
native paths, the guide leading, and /
followed close at his heels, with my
revolver ready for instant action. l
was taking no chances.
There had been keen rivalry be-
tween the military and the police, and
l was very anxious to score off them.
/ knew that if 1 was lucky enough to
capture the Laibon the Nandi rebel
lion would be ended. My Information
was that the Laibon and a secret fol-
lowing of spearsmen were resting at
Nandi village that was hidden in
the forests on the summit >ef the
Nandi escarpment. / had no definite
plan in my mind, but had decided to
let luck play its hand for me when I
arrived at the objective of my march.
For several hours we crept silently
along the trail in single file. There
was not a sound except the light twit-
ter of birds whom we had disturbed.
We avoided Sobat posts by making a
detour, for l did not wish to alarm
the garrison If they had heard us,
they would have been certain to open
fire and thus warn the Nandi that
danger was lurking around the corner
for them. I was certain that our
visit to the Laibon's temporary head
quarters must be complete and
sudden surprise IL we were to be sue