THE SABLE. 103 



We dismissed the guide, and sat quietly smok- 

 ing in the warm soft evening. The air was abso- 

 lutely still save for various night insects and 

 birds, and the weird calling of natives across the 

 valleys. Far out towards the sea a thunderstorm 

 flashed ; and after a long interval the rumblings 

 came to us. So very distant was it that we paid 

 it little attention, save as an interesting back- 

 ground to our own still evening. Almost be- 

 tween sentences of our slow conversation, how- 

 ever, it rushed up to the zenith, blotting out the 

 stars. The tall palms began to sway and rustle 

 in the forerunning breeze. Then with a swoop 

 it was upon us, a tempest of fury. We turned 

 in ; and all night long the heavy deluges of rain 

 fell, roaring like surf on an unfriendly coast. 



By morning this had fallen to a light, steady 

 drizzle in which we started off quite happily. In 

 this climate one likes to get wet. The ground 

 was sodden and deep with muck. Within a mile 

 of camp we saw many fresh buffalo tracks. 



This time we went downhill and still downhill 

 through openings among batches of great forest 

 trees. The new leaves were just coming out 

 in pinks and russets, so that the effect at a 

 little distance was almost precisely that of our 

 autumn foliage in its duller phases. So familiar 



