Big Game Shooting 



walking and shooting in the evening, and then 

 a good dinner and lengthy chat till ten or eleven 

 o'clock, puts one into a good humour and at peace 

 with all the world ; whilst seven hours' sleep — 

 " hogging it " as I have heard it expressed — is 

 enough for most men when they are shooting hard. 

 Those ten minutes in the morning, thinking over 

 yesterday and its results, and the probable chances 

 for to-day, are the best in the twenty-four. 

 On Sundays an extra half-hour's think is almost 

 the height of bliss. It must be remembered that 

 in these high altitudes in East Africa the air is 

 decidedly chilly in the early morning ; so much 

 so that in June and July out there, which corre- 

 spond to our winter in England, there is often a 

 touch of frost on the ground. Of course the sun 

 soon clears that off, but a bucket of cold water 

 rather makes one feel somewhat of a martyr at 

 times. 



We cross the river in the Berthon boat and 

 start off. After five minutes' walking we are wet 

 to the waist in the rank grass and undergrowth, 

 sodden with dew as it usually is at break of dawn 

 in the tropics. 



Behind those bushes in front I expect to see 

 my old friends, that herd of impalah which 

 is always there at this hour of the morning, 

 returning from their drink to get under the 

 friendly shade of the giant umbrella thorn trees, 

 which are part and parcel of the bush for some 



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