Chief Ungaba’s party promised to be like several other similar functions to which the boys and Mr. Hampton had been bidden as guests by other friendly chiefs. For when they arrived, they found the select two dozen guests of the chief already seated in a circle around a huge iron cauldron filled with , , African beer, while farther off in the village square blazed a number of fires around which the village proletariat were gathered to eat the meat of the and drink their home liquor.  
Places were made for Mr. Hampton and the boys in the circle about Chief Ungaba’s select cauldron. And each was provided with a length of hollow . Every guest had such a “straw,” and these they dipped into the cauldron at frequent , sucking through them great mouthsful of beer.
 
Let it be said at once, so that there may be no misconception, that Mr. Hampton, Niellsen and the boys did not indulge. Too well they knew that refusal would wound the feelings of the chief deeply, and would bring down upon their heads such a weight of displeasure that their stay in the region would be only shortlived. Therefore, they accepted the straws and even rested them in the cauldron, but without drinking.
 
This , however, was not discovered. For already the party had been in progress more than an hour, and the guests were becoming uproarious and were little likely to pay much attention to the white visitors.
 
At frequent intervals one or other of the guests would leap to his feet and begin to dance around the circle, lifting his knees high and . More and more often the performer of the moment would not confine himself to dancing, but would also burst into song.
 
A wild scene it made, as the light of the cooking fires in the square played ruddily on the mud walls of the huts nearby and the thatched roofs circular and running up to a peak from which projected the long center pole of the . And for a time the boys found this picture of men indulging in a celebration rather fascinating.
 
But before long the dancers and singers became so wild in their bearing that it became evident they would soon into a orgy, and the boys found it difficult to keep their disgust from showing on their faces. Presently Mr. Hampton whispered to , who sat nearest him, and who in turn passed the word to the others, that he considered it time to withdraw. Which they did without further ado, making their way out of the circle without attracting the attention of the Kavirondos.
 
As they passed Chief Ungaba, however, Mr. Hampton paused to with him, and the chief got unsteadily to his feet. When informed that the whites planned to leave at an early hour the next morning, he displayed sincere regret. And after finding his pleas that they remain with him a while longer prove of no avail, he promised to be on hand to see them depart.
 
As they returned to their tent, Mr. Hampton commented sorrowfully upon the failure of civilization to the wilds and break down bestial customs by providing the natives with better things.
 
“Some day, of course, it will come,” he said, as they reached the boys’ tent, “but as yet civilization has not gone very far into the African wilds.”
 
Saying goodnight, he and Niellsen passed on toward t............