Produced by Al Haines. [Illustration: Cover art] [Illustration: REINECKE FLUNG UP HIS ARM.] TOM WILLOUGHBY’S SCOUTS _A STORY OF THE WAR IN GERMAN EAST AFRICA_ BY HERBERT STRANG _ILLUSTRATED BY WAL PAGET_ HUMPHREY MILFORD OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON, EDINBURGH, GLASGOW TORONTO, MELBOURNE, CAPE TOWN, BOMBAY 1919 PRINTED 1918 IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. CLAY & SONS, LTD., BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E. 1, AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. ―――― CONTENTS CHAPTER I--TANGANYIKA CHAPTER II--PARTNERS CHAPTER III--THE VOUCHER CHAPTER IV--TRAPPED CHAPTER V--A FRIEND IN NEED CHAPTER VI--MWESA’S MISSION CHAPTER VII--TOM SEIZES THE OCCASION CHAPTER VIII--REINECKE RETURNS CHAPTER IX--A DELAYING ACTION CHAPTER X--A BREATHING SPACE CHAPTER XI--TOM’S NEW ALLIES CHAPTER XII--THE DESERTER CHAPTER XIII--HUNTED CHAPTER XIV--THE TRAIL CHAPTER XV--THE BACK DOOR CHAPTER XVI--DRAWN BLANK CHAPTER XVII--A GERMAN OFFER CHAPTER XVIII--A GOOD HAUL CHAPTER XIX--BELEAGUERED CHAPTER XX--RAISING THE SIEGE CHAPTER XXI--WILLOUGHBY’S SCOUTS ―――― LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Reinecke flung up his Arm (See p. 193) . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ Tom took careful Aim and fired Tom makes a Diversion Mwesa flung Himself on the Arab CHAPTER I--TANGANYIKA Among the passengers who boarded the _Hedwig von Wissmann_ at Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika, one June day in 1914, there were two who engaged more particularly the attention of those already on deck. The first was a tall stalwart man of some fifty years, with hard blue eyes, full red cheeks, a square chin, and a heavy blond moustache streaked with grey. He stepped somewhat jerkily up the gangway, brought his hand stiffly to his brow in response to the salute of the first officer, and was led by that deferential functionary to a chair beneath the deck awning. The second presented a striking contrast. Equally tall, he was slim and loosely built, with lean, sunburnt, hairless cheeks, a clean upper lip that curved slightly in a natural smile, and brown eyes that flashed a look of intelligent interest around. He walked with the lithe easy movements of athletic youth, turned to see that the porter was following with his luggage, a single travelling trunk and a rifle case, and satisfied on that score, picked up a deck-chair and planted it for himself where the awning would give shade without shutting off the air.