To our disgust, we found that one of the two guides had managed to escape during the night; but we kept tight hold of the other, who was presently joined by another of his friends, so that we still felt safe about the road. After a difficult tramp, lasting over two hours, through thick jungle, we unexpectedly emerged on the edge of a vast ravine, one of the largest I have seen round Mount Kenia. It must have been several hundred feet deep, and perhaps half a mile across. The sides sloped sharply down at an angle of 120°, so that descent was quite impossible. One could fancy from its appearance that it had been cut clean into the lower slope of Kenia by a Titanic sword-stroke. At the bottom was the foaming torrent which served as the boundary between M’bu and Zuka.
Having learned from the guides that further down the river there was a place where we should be able to cross, we resumed our march in that direction, and, forcing our way through the jungle, skirted the crest of the ravine until we found the crossing. Though the sides of the ravine were still terribly steep, we scrambled down somehow, and at the bottom found a rude bridge thrown across the stream. It was simply a tree-trunk, but with a little care the whole party got safely to the other side. The animals we swam across, first taking the precaution to tie a rope round their necks. We then pulled them over to the other bank, and landed them safely, unappreciative perhaps, but alive and most certainly kicking.
As it was then about ten o’clock, we sat down and breakfasted, passing the time of day with a small crowd of Wa’M’bu, who had by this time collected on the slope on the side of the ravine we had just quitted.
At eleven o’clock we resumed the march. If the jungle in M’bu was bad, this side of the ravine was ten times worse, being one impenetrable wall of vegetation. The heat at the bottom was terrific, and we all felt its effects severely. Palms grew on every side, intermingled with giant forest trees, which were in their turn covered with exotic creepers, orchids, and climbing plants, thickly interlaced with rattans, which formed a solid wall extending right up to the summit of the ridge.
Our two guides now went on strike. They demanded to be released, as they declared that they would be killed on sight by the Wa’zuka. We offered to protect them from such an untimely fate if they led us safely to the top of the ridge; and we promised to send an escort back with them to M’bu. They seemed satisfied, and were permitted to go in front to find a path. A moment later there was a rush and a scuffle, and then dead silence. George and I hurried up, and found El Hakim swearing softly to himself over their sudden disappearance. It seemed that they had suddenly slipped round a tree-trunk, and vanished before anybody knew what had happened.
We looked blankly at each other, and wondered how on earth we were going to reach the top. However, wondering would not transport us there, so we called up two or three men with axes and knives, and set them to cut a path. In a few moments they discovered the remains of an old path, which was so overgrown as to be almost obliterated. In places it had been deliberately blocked up with tree-trunks and logs, evidently by the Wa’zuka, as a defence against raids by their warlike neighbours, which defensive preparations certainly gave us a vast amount of trouble.
Upwards we toiled in the broiling heat, streaming and half blinded with perspiration. After two hours’ hard work we had climbed about a third of the way up, and reached a little open space a few feet square, where, tired out, we sat down to rest, while some of the men were sent on to search for a path. All egress, however, was barred by heavy logs and trees. We then formed a working party with axes, and set them to cut a way through, while we had fires kindled and partook of a little food.
In an hour or so we heard glad shouts from our men, mingled with the vigorous blows of their axes; and then the voices of natives shouting encouragingly to them. We went to see what was happening, and found that the Wa’zuka had become aware of our presence, and, being also at enmity with the Wa’M’bu, were for that reason welcoming us warmly. They came down to us, and assisted our men to demolish the barricades, the path, by their aid, being soon cleared.
We resumed the march, and after another half-hour’s upward toil reached the top. Several times on the way up we passed mouldering corpses of a party of Wa’M’bu, who had made an ill-advised attempt at raiding some days before.
When we arrived at the top a scene of wonderful beauty lay spread out before our eyes, glowing red in the rays of the setting sun. Gently rolling uplands, covered with smiling plantations of muhindi and sugar-cane, dotted with the figures of women and children completing their daily task, stretched as far as the eye could see. The valleys between were already in twilight, and slowly filling up with the thin grey mist that envelopes these highlands at sunset, there remaining till the advent of the sun on the morrow.