WILD HUNTING COMPANIONS 175 



the marshes, or in the twilight of the tropic 

 forests. After dark they always guided me 

 back to camp if there were any landmarks; but, 

 curiously enough, if we had to steer by the 

 stars, I had to do the guiding. They were al 

 ways alert for game. They were fine trackers. 

 They never complained. They were always at 

 my elbows when we had to deal with some 

 dangerous beast. It is small wonder I became 

 attached to them. All of Kermit s and my 

 personal attendants went with us to Cairo, 

 whence we shipped them back to Zanzibar. 

 They earnestly besought us to take them to 

 America. Cairo, of course, both enchanted and 

 cowed them. What they most enjoyed while 

 there was when Kermit took them all out in 

 taxis to the zoo. They were children of the 

 wilderness; their brains were in a whirl because 

 of the big city; it made them feel at home to 

 see the wild things they knew, and it interested 

 them greatly to see the other wild things which 

 were so different from what they knew. 



In the old days, on the great plains and in 

 the Rockies, I went out occasionally with In 

 dians or half-breeds; Kermit went after moun 

 tain-sheep in the desert with a couple of Mexican 

 packers; and Archie, Quentin, and I, while in 

 Arizona, travelled on one occasion with a Mex- 



