Wow, what a fun, easy read. If you enjoyed Selous' books, this one is a step down but just as fun and exciting. In summary, Boyes left home very young to chase adventure. After a stint in shipping business and at sea, he landed in Africa and decided to become a trader. He did this successfully and was there with Selous and Baden-Powell. He opened up an area of Africa (Kenya) where the white man was not welcome and had not survived encounters with the natives. He became the King of the Kikuyu and was highly respected at the ripe old age of 26.

This is fairly short and a page turner. You will like it.

It's my absolute favorite "period" Africa book. What the Brits did to poor ol' Boyes was a sin.

Bill Quimby

I am away from my African books, and do not have a copy of John Boyes book, but as I recall Capstick wrote about him in one of his. I think it was in his African Adventurers. I will have to seek out this one. Also have to get back to my as yet unfinished African books. I have been tied to some novelists of late and have not been able to pull myself away. Bill, what the Brits did to a lot of folks was sinful, but none worse than what they did to themselves with their firearms laws and their in country hunting restrictions.

Do not feel too sad for old John Boyes, if you read his books you get the idea he is a bit of a scoundrel pretty quick!

Ludo:

Scoundrel, yes. But the Pommies should have celebrated and worked with what Boyes did, not arrest him.

Bill Q