West with the Night

Markham writes that as a young girl, she and her father, Charles, would ride from their farm by buggy or horseback to the Elkington farm. Her father explained many habits of animals to her and, in particular, expressed admiration for the lions.

Markham describes the time when Bishon saves her life. There is a partially domesticated lion named Paddy who lives around the Elkington compound. Though the lion is considered tame, Charles warns his daughter against getting too close to the lion. However, she always runs wherever she goes as a little girl, and one day she runs past the lion. Bishon sees the little girl running and decides to keep an eye on her.

Paddy suddenly gets up and quietly follows her. Then he roars and pounces. Calling for help, Bishon rescues Markham. After this, the lion begins to attack livestock until the landholder traps and cages Paddy. Markham expresses some remorse about this, saying that up until that point, he had been a good lion.

Markham describes the way her father took 1,500 acres near the community of Njoro and turned it into a farm. He also made it a sawmill that provided wood all over the region and a gristmill that produced grain for workers on the Uganda railway.