280 AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



and clamber up a tree that grew at the foot of 

 a perpendicular bank. From there they ran 

 out on a limb and jumped to the ground. The 

 stream of dropping baboons looked like an ani- 

 mated cataract. The instant they struck the 

 ground they were hidden by the tall grass, but 

 I caught sight of them again as they paused for 

 a few seconds at an opening a little farther on 

 to look back and give me a derisive bark. 



Although we heard that baboons would some- 

 times attack a person, there was only one au- 

 thentic case that came to our notice of baboons 

 having actually killed a person. The father of 

 one of Colonel Roosevelt's trackers had been 

 killed by baboons. His body was horribly man- 

 gled and torn; near by was a dead ape pierced 

 with a spear, so probably the attack was not 

 unprovoked. 



An Englishman who was the owner of a large 

 estate in British East Africa once had a narrow 

 escape from baboons. It was his habit to rise 

 early and take a long ride before breakfast. At 

 daylight one morning he mounted his horse 

 and, throwing his rifle across the saddle in front 

 of him, started out on a tour of inspection. He 

 had travelled possibly three miles without seeing 



