arth 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