Close by was the plantation of Lieutenant-Commander Schoenfeld (retired), who hospitably offered us a glass of very fine Moselle wine, and did so with a military tone like a word of command which even then characterized him as the energetic leader who was later to defend the mouth of the Rufiji River against a superior enemy with such stubbornness. Just short of Arusha we came to the coffee-plantation of my old brother-cadet Freiherr von Ledebur, where at table I met the charming old retired Lieutenant-Colonel Freiherr von Bock. We talked about the Volunteer Rifle Corps which were being formed near Meru Mountain, and I did not dream that a few months later this old gentleman of over sixty would be one of our toughest patrol leaders on the east side of Kilima Njaro, and would often with his few men, who were mostly recruits, successfully engage several companies of the enemy. His true chivalry and fatherly care soon won him the hearts of his black comrades, to such a degree that he was in their eyes the bravest of all Germans, and they clung to him with touching loyalty. At Arusha the first inspection of a company of Askari was held. The spirit and discipline of the black unit revealed the admirable education they had received at the hands of my predecessor, Colonel Freiherr von Schleuntz; but, in accordance with the hitherto accepted principles of their employment, their training for fighting against an enemy with modern armament had been developed to a lesser degree. Like the majority of the Askari companies, this company was still armed with the old 1871 pattern rifle, using smoky powder. The opinion was widely held that for black troops this was more suitable than a modern rifle with smokeless powder, for they had hitherto never been employed against an opponent with modern armament, but only in native warfare, where the larger calibre is an advantage, while the disadvantage of smoke is of no consequence. After the outbreak of war, indeed, the enthusiastic supporters of the 1871 rifle changed their minds. Against an enemy provided with modern smokeless equipment the smoky rifle was, not only at the long ranges obtaining in the open plain, but also in bush-fighting, where the combatants are often but a few paces apart, decidedly inferior. The man using smokeless powder remains invisible, while the cloud of smoke betrays the enemy with rapidity and certainty, not only to the sharp eye of the native Askari, but even to the European accustomed to office work. Thus, at the beginning of the war, the greatest reward which could be earned by an Askari was to give him a modern captured rifle in place of his old smoky one.