FIGHTING AN AFRICAN GRASS-FIRE 45 



spreading from right to left, until they finally 

 melted into each other and became a solid line 

 of fire. Slowly but surely it crept out to meet 

 and check the flood of flame that threatened to 

 destroy the camp and its contents. 



It took me back to my schoolboy days and to 

 the pictures of the prairie fires, with the Indians 

 and settlers, the buffaloes and the other animals 

 all rushing off together to escape a common 

 danger. 



In this country, where animal life was so 

 abundant, I fully expected that the same scenes 

 would be enacted, so, when our fire had run out 

 several rods and the earth was cool enough, I 

 followed in its wake with my rifle. Not that I 

 wanted to kill any of the unfortunate creatures 

 that might have been trapped, but I thought 

 that perhaps a lion would appear, and in such 

 an event I might want a weapon of some kind. 



Strange to say, the only animals to show them- 

 selves were the large yellow tree bats that took 

 the place of the vultures, eagles, and other birds 

 as soon as darkness fell. 



The rival fires met about two hundred yards 

 from camp, and as the blazes came together there 

 was a spurt of flame into the air and then the 



