of Africa. They are good soldiers--brave and loyal.
They can read and write, and they are endowed with a self-confidence
and pride which, from my readings of the words of ancient African
explorers, must have been wanting in their earliest progenitors. On
the whole, it is apparent that the black race has thrived far better in
the past two centuries under men of its own color than it had under the
domination of whites during all previous history.

I had been a prisoner at the little frontier post for over a month,
when orders came to Colonel Belik to hasten to the eastern frontier
with the major portion of his command, leaving only one troop to
garrison the fort. As his body servant, I accompanied him mounted upon
a fiery little Abyssinian pony.

We marched rapidly for ten days through the heart of the ancient German
empire, halting when night found us in proximity to water. Often we
passed small posts similar to that at which the colonel's regiment had
been quartered, finding in each instance that only a single company or
troop remained for defence, the balance having been withdrawn toward
the northeast, in the same direction in which we were moving.

Naturally, the colonel had not confided to me the nature of his orders.
But the rapidity of our march and the fact that all available troops
were being hastened toward the northeast assured me that a matter of
vital importance to the dominion of Menelek XIV in that part of Europe
was threatening or had already broken.

I could not believe that a simple rising of the savage tribes of whites
would necessitate the mobilizing of such a force as we presently met
with converging from the south into our trail. There were large bodies
of cavalry and infantry, endless streams of artillery wagons and guns,
and countless horse-drawn covered vehicles laden with camp equipage,
munitions, and provisions.

Here, for the first time, I saw camels, great caravans of them, bearing
all sorts of heavy burdens, and miles upon miles of elephants doing
similar service. It was a scene of wondrous and barbaric splendor, for
the men and beasts from the south were gaily caparisoned in rich
colors, in marked contrast to the gray uniformed forces of the
frontier, with which I had been familiar.

The rumor reached us that Menelek himself was coming, and the pitch of
excitement to which this announcement raised the troops was little
short of miraculous--at least, to one of my race and nationa