Here Our Journey Was Slow, As
Every Now And Again We Stopped To Inspect The
Permanent Works In Progress; But
Eventually,
towards dusk, we arrived at our destination, Tsavo.
I slept that night in a little palm hut which had
Been built by some previous traveller, and which
was fortunately unoccupied for the time being.
It was rather broken-down and dilapidated, not
even possessing a door, and as I lay on my narrow
camp bed I could see the stars twinkling through
the roof. I little knew then what adventures
awaited me in this neighbourhood; and if I had
realised that at that very time two savage brutes
were prowling round, seeking whom they might
devour, I hardly think I should have slept so
peacefully in my rickety shelter.
Next morning I was up betimes, eager to make
acquaintance with my new surroundings. My first
impression on coming out of my hut was that I was
hemmed in on all sides by a dense growth of
impenetrable jungle: and on scrambling to the top of
a little hill close at hand, I found that the whole
country as far as I could see was covered with low,
stunted trees, thick undergrowth and "wait-a-bit"
thorns. The only clearing, indeed, appeared to be
where the narrow track for the railway had been
cut. This interminable nyika, or wilderness of
whitish and leafless dwarf trees, presented a
ghastly and sun-stricken appearance; and here
and there a ridge of dark-red heat-blistered rock
jutted out above the jungle, and added by its
rugged barrenness to the dreariness of the picture.
Away to the north-east stretched the unbroken
line of the N'dungu Escarpment, while far off to
the south I could just catch a glimpse of the
snow-capped top of towering Kilima N'jaro.
The one redeeming feature of the neighbourhood
was the river from which Tsavo takes its name.
This is a swiftly-flowing stream, always cool and
always running, the latter being an exceptional
attribute in this part of East Africa; and the
fringe of lofty green trees along its banks formed
a welcome relief to the general monotony of the
landscape.
When I had thus obtained a rough idea of the
neighbourhood, I returned to my hut, and began
in earnest to make preparations for my stay in
this out-of-the-way place. The stores were
unpacked, and my "boys" pitched my tent in a little
clearing close to where I had slept the night
before and not far from the main camp of the
workmen. Railhead had at this time just reached
the western side of the river, and some thousands
of Indian coolies and other workmen were
encamped there. As the line had to be pushed
on with all speed, a diversion had been made and
the river crossed by means of a temporary bridge.
My principal work was to erect the permanent
structure, and to complete all the other works
for a distance of thirty miles on each side of
Tsavo. I accordingly made a survey of what
had to be done, and sent my requisition for
labour, tools and material to the head-quarters
at Kilindini. In a short time workmen and
supplies came pouring in, and the noise of
hammers and sledges, drilling and blasting
echoed merrily through the district.
CHAPTER II
THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE MAN-EATERS
Unfortunately this happy state of affairs did
not continue for long, and our work was soon
interrupted in a rude and startling manner. Two
most voracious and insatiable man-eating lions
appeared upon the scene, and for over nine
months waged an intermittent warfare against
the railway and all those connected with it in
the vicinity of Tsavo. This culminated in a
perfect reign of terror in December, 1898, when
they actually succeeded in bringing the railway
works to a complete standstill for about three
weeks. At first they were not always successful in
their efforts to carry off a victim, but as time went
on they stopped at nothing and indeed braved any
danger in order to obtain their favourite food.
Their methods then became so uncanny, and their
man-stalking so well-timed and so certain of
success, that the workmen firmly believed that
they were not real animals at all, but devils in
lions' shape. Many a time the coolies solemnly
assured me that it was absolutely useless to
attempt to shoot them. They were quite
convinced that the angry spirits of two departed
native chiefs had taken this form in order to
protest against a railway being made through
their country, and by stopping its progress to
avenge the insult thus shown to them.
I had only been a few days at Tsavo when I
first heard that these brutes had been seen in the
neighbourhood. Shortly afterwards one or two
coolies mysteriously disappeared, and I was told
that they had been carried off by night from
their tents and devoured by lions. At the time
I did not credit this story, and was more inclined
to believe that the unfortunate men had been the
victims of foul play at the hands of some of their
comrades. They were, as it happened, very good
workmen, and had each saved a fair number of
rupees, so I thought it quite likely that some
scoundrels from the gangs had murdered them
for the sake of their money. This suspicion,
however, was very soon dispelled. About three
weeks after my arrival, I was roused one morning
about daybreak and told that one of my jemadars,
a fine powerful Sikh named Ungan Singh, had
been seized in his tent during the night, and
dragged off and eaten.
Naturally I lost no time in making an
examination of the place, and was soon convinced that
the man had indeed been carried off by a lion,
as its "pug" marks were plainly visible in the
sand, while the furrows made by the heels of the
victim showed the direction in which he had been
dragged away.
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