Finally, The Packing Gang Finishes
The Work By Filling In Earth And Ballast Under And
Around The Steel Sleepers To Give Them The
Necessary Grip And Rigidity.
Some days we were able
to lay only a few yards, while on other days we
might do over a mile; all depended on the
nature of the country we had to cover.
On one
occasion we succeeded in breaking the record
for a day's platelaying, and were gratified at
receiving a telegram of congratulation from the
Railway Committee at the Foreign Office.
I made it my custom to take a walk each
morning for some distance ahead of rails along
the centre-line of the railway, in order to spy out
the land and to form a rough estimate of the
material that would be required in the way of
sleepers, girders for temporary bridges, etc. It
was necessary to do this in order to avoid undue
delay taking place owing to shortage of material
of any kind. About ten days after my arrival at
Machakos Road I walked in this way for five or
six miles ahead of the last-laid rail. It was
rather unusual for me to go so far, and, as it
happened, I was alone on this occasion, Mahina
having been left behind in camp. About two
miles away on my left, I noticed a dark-looking
object and thinking it was an ostrich I started off
towards it. Very soon, however, I found that it
was bigger game than an ostrich, and on getting
still nearer made out the form of a great rhinoceros
lying down. I continued to advance very
cautiously, wriggling through the short grass until
at length I got within fifty yards of where the
huge beast was resting. Here I lay and watched
him; but after some little time he evidently
suspected my presence, for rising to his feet, he
looked straight in my direction and then
proceeded to walk round me in a half-circle. The
moment he got wind of me, he whipped round
in his tracks like a cat and came for me in a
bee-line. Hoping to turn him, I fired instantly;
but unfortunately my soft-nosed bullets merely
annoyed him further, and had not the slightest
effect on his thick hide. On seeing this, I flung
myself down quite flat on the grass and threw
my helmet some ten feet away in the hope that
he would perceive it and vent his rage on it
instead of me. On he thundered, while I scarcely
dared to breathe. I could hear him snorting and
rooting up the grass quite close to me, but luckily
for me he did not catch sight of me and charged
by a few yards to my left.
As soon as he had passed me, my courage
began to revive again, and I could not resist the
temptation of sending a couple of bullets after
him. These, however, simply cracked against
his hide and splintered to pieces on it, sending
the dry mud off in little clouds of dust.
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