WILD HUNTING COMPANIONS 167 



votion itself. Once, while at a friend s house, 

 his Somali stole some silver from me, after 

 which Ali always kept my silver himself with 

 scrupulous honesty. I still now and then get 

 a letter from him, but as the letters are sent 

 through some professional Hindoo scribe they 

 are of value chiefly as tokens of affection. The 

 last one, written in acknowledgment of a gift 

 sent him, contained a rather long letter in 

 Swahili, a translation into Arabic, and then a 

 would-be translation into English, which, how 

 ever, went no further than the cumulative 

 repetition of all the expressions of ceremonious 

 regard known to the scribe. 



My head gun-bearer, named Hartebeest - 

 Kongoni - - also did his work so well that I 

 never had to reprove him; he was cool and 

 game, a good tracker and tireless walker. But 

 the second gun-bearer, Gouvimali, although a 

 cheerful and willing soul, tended to get rattled 

 when near dangerous animals. Unless his 

 master is really in the grip of an animal, the 

 worst sin a gun-bearer can commit, next to 

 running away, is to shoot the gun he is carry 

 ing; for, if the master is fit to hunt dangerous 

 game at all, it is he who must do the killing, 

 and, if in a tight place, he must be able to count 

 with absolute certainty on the gun-bearer s 



