A Shooting Trip in Northwestern Rhodesia 



we were shown the game or recent spoor, and a 

 present of twenty-five lashes with the ox whip in 

 case it was all a fake. Natives would often come 

 to camp offering to show us certain kinds of game, 

 either in order that they might get a present in 

 advance, or that we might be persuaded to shoot 

 them some common variety of buck when we could 

 not get what we were after. This particular native 

 did not bolt in the night when we explained our 

 terms, as usually happened, so next morning we 

 took some boys to carry our beds and food, and 

 the rising sun saw us under way. Until noon we 

 traveled under a blazing sun over a parched plain, 

 the wind from which was like blasts from a fur- 

 nace then a rest, and on again at one in the ter- 

 rific heat, until, just as the sun was setting, we came 

 to a little knoll, the only landmark in sight, where 

 our guide said he had found water a week before. 

 There was no sign of it now. 



Nine o'clock found us still traveling, with no 

 sign of water, but soon afterward we came to a de- 

 pression, where we dug a little well, getting a cup 

 of liquid mud each, with every prospect of an 

 uncomfortable night, as we were now suffering as 

 much with the cold as we had previously done with 

 the heat, our boys having fallen far behind with 

 the food and blankets. With difficulty we man- 



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