to undo the cords. The bearers of the kitchen, who were also reliable
travellers, set about the cook camp.

A big Monumwezi unstrapped a canvas chair, unfolded it, and placed it near
his master. The other loads were arranged here, in a certain long-ordained
order; the meat piled there. Several men then went to the assistance of
Mali-ya-bwana, the tent bearer; and the others methodically took up
various tasks. Some began with their _pangas_ to hew a way to the water
through the dense thicket that had kept it sweet; others sought firewood;
still others began to pitch the tiny drill tents--each to accommodate six
men--in a wide circle of which the pile of loads was the centre. As the
men fell into the ordered and habitual routine their sullenness and
weariness vanished.

Kingozi dropped into the canvas chair, fumbled for a pipe, filled and
lighted it. With a sigh of relief he laid aside his cork helmet. The day
had not only been a hard one, but an anxious one, for this country was new
to every member of the little expedition, native guides had been
impossible to procure, and the chances of water had been those of an arid
region.

The removal of the helmet for the first tune revealed the man's features.
A fine brow, upstanding thick and wavy hair, and the clearest of gray eyes
suddenly took twenty years from the age at first made probable by the
heavy beard. With the helmet pulled low this was late middle age; now
bareheaded it was only bearded youth. Nevertheless at the corners of the
eyes were certain wrinkles, and in the eyes themselves a direct competent
steadiness that was something apart from the usual acquisition of youth,
something the result of experience not given to most.