and goats, under charge of the small boys and youths, fed nearer at
hand. The low smooth-plastered huts, with their abattis of thorn bush
between, crowned the peak like a chaplet. Outside it sat a number of
elders sunning themselves, and several smiling, good-natured young
women, probably the spoiled darlings of these plutocrats. One of these
damsels spake Swahili, so we managed to exchange compliments. They told
us exactly when and how the lion had gone. Three nimble old gentlemen
accompanied us when we left. They were armed with spears; and they
displayed the most extraordinary activity, skipping here and there
across the ravines and through the brush, casting huge stones into
likely cover, and generally making themselves ubiquitous. However, we
did not come up with the lion.

In our clinic that evening appeared one of the men claiming to suffer
from rheumatism. I suspected him, and still suspect him, of malingering
in advance in order to get out of the hard work we must soon undertake,
but had no means of proving my suspicion. However, I decided to
administer asperin. We possessed only the powdered form of the drug. I
dumped about five grains on his tongue, and was about to proffer him the
water with which to wash it down--when he inhaled sharply! I do not know
the precise effect of asperin in the windpipe, but it is not pleasant.
The boy thought himself bewitched. His eyes stuck out of his head; he
gasped painfully; he sank to the ground; he made desperate efforts to
bolt out into the brush. By main strength we restrained him, and forced
him to swallow the water. Little by little he recovered. Next night I
missed him from the clinic, and sent Abba Ali in search. The man assured
Abba Ali most vehemently that the medicine was wonderful, that every
trace of rheumatism had departed, that he never felt better in his life,
and that (important point) he was perfectly able to carry a load on the
morrow.