“There’ll be no dirty work, if that’s what you mean,” said Will quietly.

Brown stared hard at him.

“D’you mean you’ll object to hanging ’em?”

“Not in the least.  We hang or shoot cattle thieves in the States.  I said there’ll be no dirty work, that’s all.”

“Shall we rest a while, and come on them fresh in the morning?” I proposed.

“Forward!” snorted Brown.  “Why d’you want to wait?”

“Forward it is!” agreed Will.  “When we get a bit closer we’ll stop and hold council of war.”

“One minute!” said I.  “Tell me what that is?”

I had been searching the whole countryside, looking for some means of stealing on the marauders unawares and finding none.  They had chosen their camping place very wisely from the point of view of men unwilling to be taken by surprise.  Far away over to our right, appearing and disappearing as I watched them, were a number of tiny black dots in sort of wide half-moon formation, and a larger number of rather larger dots contained within the semicircle.

“Cattle!” exploded Brown.

“And men!” added Will.

“Black men!” said I.  “Black men with spears!”

“Masai!” said Kazimoto excitedly.  He had far the keenest eyes of all of us.

We were silent for several minutes.  The veriest stranger in that land knows about the feats and bravery of the Masai, who alone of all tribes did not fear the Arabs, and who terrorized a quarter of a continent before the British came and broke their power.

“Mbaia cabisa!” muttered Kazimoto, meaning that the development was very bad indeed.  And he had right to know

He explained it was a raid.  The Masai, in accordance with time-honored custom, had come from British East to raid the lake-shore villages of German territory, and were driving back the plundered cattle.  None can drive cattle as Masai can.  They can take leg-weary beasts by the tail and make them gallop, one beast encouraging the next until they all go like the wind.  For food they drink hot blood, opening a vein in a beast’s neck and closing it again when they have had their fill.  Their only luggage is a spear.  Their only speed-limit the maximum the cattle can be stung to.  On a raid three hundred and sixty miles in six days is an ordinary rate of traveling.

Just now they did not seem in much hurry.  They had probably butchered the fighting men of all the villages in their rear, and were well informed as to the disposition of the nearest German forces.  There were probably no Germans within a hundred miles.  There was no telegraph in all those parts.  To notify Muanza by runner and Bagamoyo on the coast from there by wire would take several days.  Then Bagamoyo would have to wire the station at Kilimanjaro, and there was no earthly chance of Germans intercepting them before they could reach British East.

Nor was there any treaty provision between British and German colonial governments for handing over raiders.  The Germans had refused to make any such agreement for reasons best known to themselves.  The fact that they were far the heaviest losers by the lack of reciprocal police arrangements was due to the fact that most of the Masai lived in British East.  The Masai would have raided across either border with supreme indifference.