At the end of the second day, Mr. Hampton announced that not only had their supplies been restocked but also he had obtained the services of new bearers acquainted with the Kavirondo country who would accompany them henceforth. The Kikuyus were to be sent back to Nairobi, where they had been recruited, by train, in accordance with the contract agreement. He had been fortunate in replacing Wimba as interpreter and “straw boss,” by a six-foot Kavirondo named Mabele.
The next day, therefore, the expedition put Kisumu behind and struck into the Kavirondo country, noticing almost at once a marked change in the character of the country, grassy plateaus and plains being replaced by lofty hills and dense forests, while the native life appeared far more primitive than that of the Kikuyus.
It was noted, too, that the natives were none too friendly. When they entered strange villages, tall warriors would crowd around them scowling. And their heavy hide shields and twelve-foot spears created an uneasy impression in the mind of at least one member of the expedition, namely Mr. Hampton. Then, too, it was no unusual matter to look up suddenly while following a native trail through dense forest and behold the eyes of a half-hidden watcher peering from leafy covert, a matter which occurred not once but many times.
“They told me at Kisumu that the Kavirondos were none too friendly, and were resentful of the encroachments of the whites,” said Mr. Hampton, in camp one night. “Yet I was assured we would be safe enough. However, I can’t understand this continued unfriendliness. We shall have to push ahead without organizing any side expeditions that would split our forces, until we reach the territory of Chief Ungaba which Mabele tells me is only two days’ march away. He is friendly to the whites, and in his territory we can hunt big game with both rifle and camera to our heart’s content.”
Care was taken not to give offense to the natives, and Mabele was cautioned to warn those of his bearers who were members of Lake Victoria tribes and not Kavirondos to refrain from becoming embroiled in disputes with the native populace. Guard also was maintained at night to prevent trouble. For although Mr. Hampton was of the opinion that the unfriendliness of the natives was not such as would lead them to attack white men so close to the Lake Victoria settlements, yet he suspected that if the natives considered them off guard they would not hesitate to steal whatever they could lay their hands on.
However, they finally reached the village of Chief Ungaba without unpleasant incident. And as they drew near late in the afternoon of a clear day, the chief himself at the head of what looked like the entire population came put to welcome them.
CHAPTER XVII
OUT FOR A RHINO
Here the expedition settled down to the serious business of shooting big game with a camera, while the days insensibly rolled into weeks. For Chief Ungaba and his people were friendly and, as the park-like country with its lofty hills, great stretches of thorn bush and spreading forests comparatively free of underbrush, abounded in game, Mr. Hampton decided to use the village of Ungaba as a base of operations from which side expeditions could be sent out.
Under the tutelage of Niellsen, the boys had developed into excellent motion picture photographers. And whether they lay concealed for days in brush shelters, awaiting the opportunity to film animals coming to a water hole to drink, or whether they crawled for hours along game trails, dragging both rifle and big camera with them, they returned not only with their enthusiasm undampened but also with many feet of film which they felt certain would prove on development to be amply worth all the effort expended.
That these trips were not without incident goes without saying. Time and again they had narrow escapes, as when Jack on one occasion crawled around a rock with a view to film buffalo feeding in a grassy depression at the base of the hillside, only to find a particularly deadly snake, the mamba, coiled on the sunny side just at the place where he would next have placed his hand. Drawing back with lightning quickness, he drew his revolver and shot the snake. The sound of the shot sent the buffalo tearing and lumbering away and spoiled his chance of getting a picture of them, a chance which he had spent a full hour in acquiring. But he saved his life.