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his lunch when there was the grateful shade of a 

 tree available fifty yards away ; still less would 

 he have supposed the elephants would return so 

 soon, or even at all. It was sheer bad luck: and 

 one of them was such a big fellow, too ! 



I shall never forget the beauty of Masindi, and 

 I would I could describe it in adequate terms ; but 

 a telegram received there, hurrying up my return, 

 forced me to leave next mornincr. The shootinof 

 would not be good by the shortest road, which I 

 necessarily had to take, so I left with a heart 

 heavy at the thought that my pleasant journey 

 would be over all too soon, and that it would be 

 many a long day before I should be able to obtain 

 leave of absence to shoot in other districts. 



Our first halt was at the river Kafu, a sluggish 

 tributary of the Victoria Nile, which we reached 

 after a stiffish march. This is a slow-flowing, 

 muddy river, flanked by rich tropical vegetation ; 

 graceful palms and lovely ferns overhang the 

 water. The greens seem particularly vivid here 

 after the burnt-up dryness of the plains, and the 

 red young leaves of some of the trees have the 

 appearance of autumnal tints, and form a feature 

 peculiar to the African landscape. Game was 

 not present in any considerable quantity. One 

 herd of zebra, numbering about thirty, stood 

 staring at us for so long at a distance of about 

 eighty yards that I was able to photograph them. 



Now and again we got shelter from the burn- 



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