CHAPTER XVII
Through Mashonaland
13th November to 2nd December
I proceed with the General to Mashonaland—A new fashionable Pastime to be found in Spooring—Charter—Our Daily Trek—Salisbury—The inevitable Alarmist Rumours and their Inventors—Celebrities in Salisbury—A Visit to the Hospital—Cecil Rhodes in Council—A Run with the Hounds, with a Check at the Telegraph Line—A Countess saves her Sewing–Machine and kills a Lion—Marshal MacMahon’s Aide–de–Camp as a Trooper in Mashonaland—The Delays incident to being at the End of a Wire—The Rains begin—The Situation in Mashonaland.
13th November.—Up early. Paid off and sorrowfully said “Good–bye” to Diamond and Umtini, my two nigger servants.
And in the afternoon the General moved on from Enkeldoorn towards Salisbury. The party consisted of Sir Frederick, Vyvyan, Ferguson, Gormley (our principal medical officer), Leech (who manages our transport), three waggons, a Cape cart, and lots of riding–horses, servants, office–clerks, etc.
