THE LONG TRAIL 



himself understood, and never seemed to 

 experience any difficulty in understanding 

 his interlocutor. In Africa he had a most 

 complicated combination of sign-language 

 and coined words, and though I could 

 rarely make out what he and his gun- 

 bearer were talking about, they never 

 appeared to have any difficulty in under- 

 standing each other. Father could read 

 Spanish, and he had not been in Brazil 

 long before he could make out the trend 

 of any conversation in Portuguese. With 

 the Brazilians he always spoke French, or, 

 on rare occasions, German. 



He was most conscientious about his 

 writing. Almost every day when he came 

 in from hunting he would settle down to 

 work on the articles that were from time 

 to time sent back to Scribner's. This daily 

 task was far more onerous than any one 

 who has not tried it can imagine. When 

 69 



