ACROSS THE DESERT IN A MOTOR-CAR.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1743, 7 May 1913, Page 3

ACROSS THE DESERT IN A MOTOR-CAR.

1> DARING ENGLISHMEN, A book has just been published (writes "H.H.F.," in the London "Daily Mail") which will make every Englishman who reads it—provided that ho has not been de-Anglicised—proud of his race. It is called "To Menelek,with a Motor" (Hurst and Blackctt), and it relates how two Englishmen took a quite unnecessary risk just lor tho fun of it, and how they .persevered with a cool, stolid courago in tho face o-f dangers and obstacles that would certainly have turned most adventurers back. The story begins with tho Emperor Menelek of Abyssinia wanting a motorcar. Of course it could have been sent to him in pieces by rail and caravan and put together when they arrived. But it occurred to Mr. Bede Bentley (whoso father was tho famous architect of Westminster Cathedral, by tho way) that it would bo far more sporting, and also give tho Abyssinians a higher opinion of mo-tor-cars, if ho were to drive the whole way across the desert from the Gulf of Aden to Adis Aleba. Ho was fold that it was unsafe. He was told it was impossible. He smiled, and went on with his preparations. . He engaged as his assistant Mr. Kegin- . aid Wells, who, on being asked if lie would care to go to Abyssinia, said at once, "Yes, sir," and then asked, discreet pause, "Where's that, sirf Before the book is half read you will hold both of thein in respect and admiration. As for their dog Bully you will love him as they did. Ho is one of the most delightful (logs I have e\er come across—in a book. The story is not told by the adventurers themselves, but by Mr. Clifford Halle. It could not have been put into better hands. The tone is kept light all through, just such a tono as Englishmen use in describing their experiences. Pomposity would have spoiled the telling. Mr. Halle, with his pleasant air of not taking tho matter too seriously, shows quite clearly nevertheless how near tho plucky pair of motorists came to death, not onco nor twice; and how ■ their unconquerable English spirit saved tlieir lives. Their worst encounters were with tribesmen of the desert who thought the motor was a railway come to Tuin their caravan trade. In dealing with natives, Mr. Wells found his skill in conjxiring and concertina-playing most useful. There are pages hero which remind one of Captain Good's famous cclipso in "King Solomon's Mines," or was it in "She"? Often ono has to stop and laugh aloud at the comical situations. Even when they were a few hours off death by thirst ami starvation tho adventurers kept, up heart and saw the amusing side cf their desperate plight. Poisoned Coffee, They lost several of their native "boys" in fighting, and one camo to an end moro tragic. Enraged at being caught stealing whisky this "boy," who was assistant cook, poisoned some coffee. Luckily he was seen to drop something in it, and when ho served tho coffee lie was compelled to drink it himself. It proved 'fatal. j Several times bridges liad to be built for the car across rivers or ravines. At 0110 point it could only travel across soft sand by having planks laid down for a few yards, then taken up and carried forward, and so on. Progress made in this way was, as can bo imagined, maddeningly slow. Tho heat all tho tirno was-intense and the insects savagely insistent. ' When they arrived at Menelek's capital tho motorists wero able to. polish np their car, so that it showed very litti? traco of all it had been through. They could not so'.easily rub out the marks, which weariness and privation had left upon themselves. They were thin and wrinkled. Both looked, as Wells put it, as if they had been born, "a good long way back in 8.C."

Still, tliey had-done what they sot out to do, and that was tlicir reward. Would men of any other nationality go through so much for tho sheer enjoyment of hardship and danger? A lino in "Kitchener's School" comes back to me: ".Allah created the English mad, tho maddest of all mankind." Yes, if it be madness to do what these two did, tlien are the English mad indeed, and long may they remain to! It is this splendid hunger 'for life at any cost, for a vivid, realising of every kind of physical and mental sensation, that has mado tho Empire. If ever Englishmen ceasa to do "mad" tilings like this motor trip, theii tho day of that Empire will bo drawing to a close.