AFRICAN REPTILES 177 



were naturalists, and our porters had learned 

 that we wanted nearly everything, so they made 

 almost as much noise when they saw a dikdik 

 or a hare as they would had it been a lion. 

 Once there was an unusual outcry just as I was 

 in the act of shooting at a guinea-fowl. The 

 gun bearer snatched the Ithaca shotgun from 

 my hands and replaced it with the cocked rifle, 

 and I heard some great brute tearing through 

 the brush. The next instant a leopard bounded 

 past, but the openings were few and small; so 

 I did not get a shot. 



Kermit Roosevelt, however, killed several 

 leopards in this manner, one of which charged a 

 porter and bit and scratched him severely before 

 it was finally killed. 



These brush patches teemed with animal life, 

 so from the time that a drive began until the 

 porters had passed out into the open country 

 at the other end it was one continual round of 

 excitement. You never knew what kind of an 

 animal to expect next, and, no matter what ap- 

 peared, you usually had the wrong gun. 



The porters also bagged their share of game, 

 for, while they were never allowed to carry guns, 

 they were experts at throwing clubs, and there 



