Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-27

l " 6OSAs
| VI one of the Roman roads of
4 Y England, framed in its hedges,
nor a Route National Of
| France, fading away into the distance
between its rows of poplars. nor did 1t
even approach one of our State roads
of Western New York, winding through
fringes of hot dog" standS-but 1t was
a reasonable road. an open road, and
1t led back there"
One might imagine himself motor
ing almost anywhere but in Africa" we
| thought We were over enthusiastic,
however. for soon We were riding over
"a plain road We. began to labor
heavily. Ours was small car, almost
entirely surrounded by baggage. It
| staggered under its load. Every time
we hit a pebble the springs reversed
| themselves.
We had brought along all of our
equipment except our dinner coats and
store clothes, which had been deposited
in the trunk room of the Norfolk Hotel.
Wed be delighted to keep Them" said
"Aunty." I'VE always do" and led us
to large room. .
1t was an amazing room, filled with a
bizarre collection of personal belong
| ings. There were ancient dusty trunks,
| Scared and mutilated by years of battle
against superior forces; weird musical
instruments. swords, antiquated mus
kets. There were clothes of every vim
tage since the days when Queen Vic
toria was bride, antique boots that
had done much marching up and down
in the world. officers tin trunks and a
few valises like ours, virginal-lookfng
and innocent.
Its been here for years-some of it."
Aunty volunteered They leave it
here, then go off and never come back.
Sometimes they're killed in hunting &C
cidents Those we know about. Others
just vanish. We never can tell if they're
coming back. So VIE keep on keeping~it..
AS rule when they do come back they
look like different people
Cheered by this thought, we bumped
along, scattering the fumes of half
burnt gasoline far and wide over the
equatorial landscape. Ahead Of us
drove a man named Gregg who was tax
ing his bride out to the farm to which
we were going.
WE passed Lake Naivasha, at one
w time the earthly paradise of Paul
Rainey. A dozen years ago a bowling
wildernesS-noW tame. and with barely
bleat left in 1t. We Numbered through
| Gil Gil over track baked hard by the
sun of y degree south. Soon we would
know the worst about this Equator bust
ness. Gil Gil did not detain us. 1tfcon-
sisted of one wide street and a bad
smell. 1t was a sheep town. We forded
streams Economically, immersed in water
to our withers. For two days we trav-
eled, and then, on the plateau 100 miles
from Nairobi, we were suddenly in the
midst of game.
In large, dry swamp between one
and two thousand head chewed medita-
tive cuds. The ubiquitous zebra, harte-
Incest, topi. oribi. reedbuck and Warthog
stepped forward. each in turn, to- ex-
press his resentment at our intrusion.
1t was dark when we picked our way
| to the top of small bluff, to surge
down into an open space. vaguely sur
rounded by low buildings. 1t was the
. farm.
From low stone building emerged a
group of people with lanterns. Inne-
I diately Gregg and his bride we're. the
center OF storm of welcome They
J were home at last. There was feathers.
owner of the farm; his wife; Flint, their
| son-in-law, and his wife, to tell them so.
! But, If it was home to Gregg, to us it
was only another strange environment.
We stood on the outskirts of this group
Of friends, and listened to the dogs howl
At length Gregg stepped back suddenly
and trod on me. '.s% I
"Oh. yes" he exclaimed. Here are a
pair of lads who want to go hunting
They have some very nice-looking
clothes, IS pounds of EPSON salts, and a
lot OF policemen's whistles. What car
| you do for thRm?''' .''' :. -
Flint sat down next to me on the in
closed porch. We rocked for a few mo-
nents In silence Then he said $50
yoti want little shooting? Well, guess
| We can fix you up. propose that we
target. your guns In the morning. In the
afternoon we'll take the dogs out for
warthog. The next day-Sunday----
we'll send a chit to the neighbors and
have drive Monday we'll take an
ox-wagon, half a dozen boys and do
q short ox-wagon 'safari'-say three
tdays-probably over to an abandoned
farm called 'Hobson's Choice Let's
see, that brings us to next Friday week
That Saturday we'll start for the Elgayn
: Reserve after big garne-it's wild