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S. Small—Impala Farm

P.O. Box 92, Nanyuki

John Hopkins, Esq.

c/o The American Express,

Cairo,

Egypt.

August 4, 1961

Dear John and Partner,

Your card from Tunisia arrived a couple of days ago. I had been sweating you out somewhere about there when the fighting broke out and I had rather written you off!

Hope the letter via Lubbock caught up with you. I enclose a page of it which stayed here. We had a fire—not serious—but my correspondence was messed up and I either wrote another page or the one enclosed or just didn’t enclose the original—can’t remember which.

For God’s sake be careful in the Sudan—I’ve only just heard of two young Americans murdered in their car a couple of months ago—en route down here. A very light and non-antagonistic protection is a couple of “Aerosol Bombs,” typical fire extinguishers which temporarily blind anyone who is rude.

You’ll be alright here, I hope, but Africa is really boiling up. The refugees from the Cameroons are pouring in. New Guinea—to jump a few miles—is on fire with head-hunters from the hills in war paint, with spears, bows and arrows and slings ravishing Rabaul, the capital. The whole world seems to have gone mad.

If you get into serious difficulty after Egypt—wire me!

Major S. Small, R.C.A.

c/o Lieut. Col. Julian Pagett,

2nd Battalion

Coldstream Guards

Gilgil

Kenya

I might be able to help as I do the odd piece of work for the Limeys, and might bulldog my way up to you. You can also burn this up when you’ve finished.

The British Military Attaché at Khartoum will know you are coming. His name is Colonel Hilary Hook, British Military Attaché, B. Consulate, Khartoum. Don’t know him well, but he’s a friend of friends who have fired off an epistle.

You are getting quite well known by now as I’m passing the word along to anyone you might bump into. I’m most serious about you having a house here for as long as you want it and come and go as you please. Hope you did get my lengthy “Lubbock” letter as it was full of plots and plans.

Life goes on fairly quietly. Kenyatta is out this month. New elections are on the horizon. The really grubby oathing is starting again. People rabbiting daily. (Rabbiting is a really “dirty word” out here now.) Races, polo, dances, military reviews, etc. The flag is flying and old Kenya is going down like the Titanic.

There are quite a lot of American tourists out here. A Princeton ’20, his wife and a “lady friend” arrived today to say hello. Friends of friends of friends. Roy Ryan came out to lunch on Monday. He owns the Mount Kenya Safari Club. The Bermuda Dunes Club in California, a plane (club) in Bermuda, financier, Switzerland, and Monte Carlo, etc. Struck it rich in Texas and has kept piling it on. Originally from Minnesota he’s a real character for Sinclair Lewis. The most unkind thing he did was to bring his 17-year-old daughter and a friend of hers along. After lunch we went bird shooting and got caught in a thunderstorm. I’m no prude, but it was pretty darn evidential that the only thing the fillies had on were Brooks Brothers tennis shirts, and it was crucifixion in this womanless country.

To add fuel to the fire—he sent out two lithe, lean, tanned Vassar graduates the next day, and the only thing worse than no woman is two women on an isolated African farm.

Kenyatta is about to come out of “restriction” and we seem due for more elections around November—probably when you arrive. Kuwait seems settled for the moment. I hope to ship over to Trucial in Arabia to spend a week with a friend in the “Scouts” on patrol in the desert, and come home via Aden and Bahrain where some regiments are garrisoned and I have a lot of old pals.

Have a couple of Salukis waiting in Trucial and hope to pick up a hunting falcon or eagle. Can’t think of anything more of interest. Will send on the R.A.S.K. data on roads out of Cairo as soon as they arrive. Please let me know if there is anything at all I can do. It is raining now so all ranch work has ground to a halt.

I’ve just talked to two majors in the Coldstream who’ve blown in with their wives for some leave, and they said it would probably be wise to avoid wiring to me as a major via the military from Egypt as they’d role you as military spies, etc., so just use your own judgment—probably best just Sam S., Impala, etc. Hadn’t thought of that one!

Well—all the best luck. They say God takes care of fools, etc. Looking forward to seeing you before long.

Cheers,

Sam