well. He quickly gained the confidence of his Haussa troops, and then
set to work to improve the sanitary conditions of Jebba, where he was
stationed. He equipped the town with a good water-supply, as well as
with a system of drainage, and planted large vegetable gardens, so
that the European residents need no longer be entirely dependent on
tinned foods. It was Ronald Buxton, too, who first had the idea of
building houses on tripods of railway metals, to raise them above the
deadly ground-mists. Thanks to him, the place became reasonably
healthy, and his powers of organisation being quickly recognised, he
was transferred from the Military to the Administrative side. His
whole heart was in his work. Like young Kemp, Buxton always stayed in
my house when on leave. Though the most tempting invitations to shoot
and to hunt rained in on him whilst in England, he was always fretting
and chafing to be back at work in his pestilential West African swamp,
where he lived on a perpetual diet of bully beef and yams in a leaky
native grass-built hut. Like young Kemp, he was absolutely indifferent
to the ordinary comforts of life, and appeared really to enjoy
hardships, and they were both quite insensible to the attractions of
money. He was killed in the South African War, or would, I am sure,
have had a most distinguished Colonial career. These two young men
seemed created to be pioneers in rough lands. As far as my own
experience goes, it is only these Islands that produce young men of
the precise stamp of Norman Kemp and Ronald Buxton.




CHAPTER VII

Appalling ignorance of geography amongst English people--Novel