assed, shrieking hysterically, "Haya! haya! pesi!
pesi!" and the like to men already doing their best. It was a grand
sight!

In the meantime the fire itself was roaring away. The old graybeard
suddenly ceased crying "maji," and darted forward to where I stood on
the bale of cotton. With great but somewhat flurried respect he begged
me to descend. I did so, somewhat curious as to what he might be up to,
for the cotton was at least two hundred feet from the fire. Immediately
he began to tug and heave; the bale was almost beyond his strength; but
after incredible exertions he lifted one side of it, poised it for a
moment, got his shoulder under it, and rolled it over once. Then he
darted away and resumed his raucous cry for water. I climbed back again.
Thrice more, at intervals, he repeated this performance. The only result
was to daub with mud every possible side of that bale. I hope it was his
property.

You must remember that I was observing the heavy artillery of the attack
on the conflagration. Individual campaigns were everywhere in progress.
I saw one man standing on the roof of a threatened building. He lowered
slowly, hand over hand, a small tea-kettle at the end of a string. This
was filled by a friend in the street, whereupon the man hauled it up
again, slowly, hand over hand, and solemnly dashed its contents into the
mouth of the furnace. Thousands of other men on roofs, in balconies, on
the street, were doing the same thing. Some had ordinary cups which they
filled a block away! The limit of efficiency was a pail. Nobody did
anything in concert with anybody else. The sight of these thousands of
little midgets each with his teacup, or his teapot, or his tin pail,
throwing each his mite of water--for which he had to walk a street or
so--into the ravening roaring furnace of flame was as pathetic or as
comical as you please. They did not seem to have a show in the world.

Nevertheless, to my vast surprise, the old system of the East triumphed
at last. The system of the East is that if you get _enough_ labour you
can accomplish anything. Little by little those thousands of tea kettles
of water had their aggregate effect. The flames fed themselves out and
died down leaving the contiguous buildings unharmed save for a little
scorching. In two hours all was safe, and I returned to the hotel,
having enjoyed myself hugely. I had, however, in the interest and
excitement, forgotten how deadly is the fever of Mombasa. M