With Mashlight and Rifle -^ 



Yes, such an adventure has, indeed, an indescribable 

 fascination. Far from the camp, in the moonlit, solitary- 

 wilderness, to dare await the manifestations of the life of 

 these wild denizens of the forest — to what sportsman, just 

 beginning his career, would not this present an irresistible 

 attraction? I have several times attempted the "raised 

 ambush," as well as the ambush in a thorn-thicket. And 

 I have been rewarded for all my troubles, less by the 

 hunting trophies I have secured than by the wealth of 

 observations that I have been enabled to make. I will 

 refer the reader to the most veracious and highly graphic 

 descriptions by Count Coudenhove of his night-ambushes 

 for lions in Somaliland.^ As he confesses, in simple, 

 straightforward words : "I then learnt what tear really 

 was." That was my experience. 



Will the reader, then, follow me and my tried and 

 trustv black companion into my carefully arranged thorn- 

 ambush, the entrance to which is closed behind us by some 

 other servants by means of thorn-branches, and in which 

 we are finally left alone .^ Three loopholes in three 

 different directions give me openings for my shots. With 

 the coverings we have brought along, we make ourselves 

 as comfortable as may be. 



I have selected my position so that I can count upon 

 seeing lions as well as wild beasts of other kinds, even 

 rhinoceroses, going to the water. After a while — the 

 sun is already setti ng^ — there appear before us in the 

 dry grass, their heads held very high, three fine, 

 yellow-throated francolins ; but the wily birds have 

 ^ Count Hoyos, Zii dcii Aulihans. 

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