"Where?" asked John.
"In his old home away in the hills," said Wasama, who was interpreting.
"Then why doesn't he sell it and buy himself a good hut and good arms and make himself comfortable?"
"Because the store is now in the bad man's country, beyond the mountain."
John had by this time learnt something of the native African's genius for invention, and treated the Wanderobbo's assertions as sheer romance; but the old man repeated them again and again, and indeed seemed sometimes to be brooding over his wrongs, so that John began to believe that there was some little foundation for his story. Once Bill said that if the young master cared to go with him a long journey he would show him how to hunt elephants, so that he might get ivory for himself. But it happened that Mr. Halliday had only taken out an ordinary game licence, costing 150 rupees, not caring to pay an additional 600 rupees for the full licence which would entitle him to shoot elephants and rhinoceros and other large game. Bill was totally unable to understand the reason of John's refusal, and John felt that the old man in his secret thoughts set him down as afraid.
But though elephant hunting had to be declined, John was never loth to go in quest of smaller game when the larder required it. He never killed any of his own sheep or cattle for food, but depended on the game that fell to his rifle--waterbuck, grantei, congoni, and other animals which were to be found at first within short distances of the farm. Bill was his constant companion on these expeditions, and proved very useful, having an instinct for the right localities. Two or three of the villagers were usually hired to carry back the game that was shot.
One day the party had gone some five miles to the northward, and the bearers were cutting up two grantei which John had shot, when a solitary figure appeared in the far distance. It was unusual to see a native travelling alone, but he was approaching so slowly that John did not think it worth while to await his arrival, and when the cutting up was finished, he ordered the men to shoulder their burdens. But taking a look at the stranger before setting off after his men, John felt sure that he was making straight towards him across the broken country; and since he was in the middle of a wide plain, trackless and bare, he wondered whether the stranger had some definite purpose in so directing his course. Letting the bearers go on in advance, he decided to wait with Bill for the man.
As he came more clearly into view, John perceived that he was moving very slowly and with manifest difficulty. When he came up, and John, who had by this time more than a smattering of Swahili, questioned him, the man explained that he was a Baganda, and had been sent to seek help for a safari nearly a day's march to the north-east. The master of the safari was a young msungu (white man), and John was able to make out from what the messenger said that the party was in extreme danger from "bad men." The msungu had sent him out at night on the chance of finding help, but he had not been able to move fast because he was very weak and hungry.
John was in a quandary. On the one hand his inclination prompted him to set off at once to the aid of a fellow white man: on the other hand he had no force at command which could hope to intervene effectually if the "bad men" were in considerable numbers. He was some miles from the farm, and even if he hurried back he could not raise a strong party. Coja was the only man on the farm besides himself who could use a rifle, and John was very doubtful whether he could induce any of the villagers to leave their own ground on a fighting expedition. Still, he felt that something must be done. He asked the Baganda whether he could use a rifle, and on being answered in the affirmative, he first gave the man some food from the little stock he had brought for his own use, and then bade him wait with the Wanderobbo while he returned to the farm.
On arriving he dispatched Wasama with the news to the nearest government station, Fort Hall, forty miles to the south-west. Then he ordered Said Mohammed to make ready a supply of food, and Coja to saddle three donkeys, and within a quarter of an hour he was hurrying back over his tracks, Coja beside him leading the third donkey. Each had his rifle, and Coja carried a third for the Baganda.