Towards the Likipia Escarpment, and about half-way to its base, a line
of trees marked the course of the Kedong River. Beyond that, fairly
against the mountain, we made out a settler's house.
Leaving Billy and the safari, C. and I set out for this house. The
distance was long, and we had not made half of it before thunder clouds
began to gather. They came up thick and black behind the escarpment, and
rapidly spread over the entire heavens. We found the wagon shortly,
still mending its dusselboom, or whatever the thing was. Leaving
instructions for it to proceed to a certain point on the Kedong River,
we started back for our safari.
It rained. In ten minutes the dusty plains, as far as the eye could
reach, were covered with water two or three inches deep, from which the
sparse bunches of grasses grew like reeds in a great marshy lake. We
splashed along with the water over our ankles. The channels made by the
game trails offered natural conduits, and wherever there was the least
grade they had become rushing brooks. We found the safari very
bedraggled. Billy had made a mound of valuables, atop which she perched,
her waterproof cape spread as wide as possible, a good deal like a
brooding hen. We set out for the meeting-point on the Kedong. In half an
hour we had there found a bit of higher ground and had made camp.
As suddenly as they had gathered the storm clouds broke away.
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