The oppressive heat of the morning had now given place to a pleasant coolness, with a crisp exhilarating breeze. When John expressed his surprise at this, within a degree or two of the Equator, Said Mohammed explained that they were now four or five thousand feet above sea-level, among the Highlands of East Africa, where Europeans may live in health and comfort. By the time they reached Nairobi, indeed, the evening air was so chill that both Englishmen were glad to don their overcoats. Said Mohammed deferentially took leave of them on the platform of the station, and disappeared among a crowd of Orientals gathered there; while Mr. Halliday inquired for the coffee-planter to whom he had an introduction, and who had offered him the hospitality of his bungalow so long as he remained in Nairobi. CHAPTER THE SECOND--Said Mohammed, failed B.A. Nairobi was disappointing. At a distance it looked like a cluster of tin cottages, and though these appeared larger and more substantial on a nearer view, they retained the dreary aspect of makeshift which corrugated iron always gives. Mr. Gillespie, however, the coffee-planter with whom the Hallidays were to stay, was hospitality itself; he and his good wife received their visitors with real Scottish heartiness of welcome. They gave them a capital dinner, and made them feel thoroughly at home. Mr. Gillespie was much amused when, in answering his question about their journey from Mombasa, John told him of Said Mohammed, failed B.A. "I’m that myself," he said, with a comical smile--"failed M.A. of Glasgow, though I don’t call myself so. Professor Ramsay’s Latin Composition fair stuck me, that’s a fact. Man, these Indians are a problem. We’ve some thousands of them here, industrious, quick, and able to live on next to nothing, which we Scotsmen have got out of the way of. I believe in free trade, when it is free; but I don’t believe in free competition with people who can beat us hollow, and these Indians will do that if we let ’em. We’re bound to put restrictions on them." "But they’re British subjects, sir," John was beginning. "Aye," interrupted Mr. Gillespie, "and so are the lions and rhinoceros of these parts, and we have to fight ’em. A country can’t belong to both wild beasts and men; nor can it belong to black men and white; one or other must go to the wall. Not that the Indians are wild beasts, or even black; on the contrary, they’re very decent folk in the main, and that’s the worst of it. The only solution I see is to let them develop the Lowlands where we can’t live, and to keep the Highlands for ourselves. Man, it’s a grand country." After dinner Mr. Gillespie led his guests to the verandah, and providing them with deck-chairs and cigars, discussed with them their immediate future. "We’ve a decent club here; I’ll introduce you to-morrow, Halliday. You can get a round of golf; and there are several young lassies who’ll play lawn tennis all day with your son if he wishes."