86 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



of which stood my tent, flanked by those of the other white 

 men and by the dining tent. In the next line were the cook 

 tent, the provision tent, the store tent, the skinning tent, 

 and the like; and then came the lines of small white tents 

 for the porters. Between each row of tents was a broad 

 street. In front of our own tents in the first line an askari 

 was always pacing to and fro; and when night fell we 

 would kindle a camp-fire and sit around it under the stars. 

 Before each of the porters' tents was a little fire, and be- 

 side it stood the pots and pans in which the porters did their 

 cooking. Here and there were larger fires, around which 

 the gun-bearers or a group of askaris or of saises might 

 gather. After nightfall the multitude of fires lit up the 

 darkness and showed the tents in shadowy outline; and 

 around them squatted the porters, their faces flickering 

 from dusk to ruddy light, as they chatted together or sud- 

 denly started some snatch of wild African melody in which 

 all their neighbors might join. After a while the talk and 

 laughter and singing would gradually die away, and as we 

 white men sat around our fire, the silence would be un- 

 broken except by the queer cry of a hyena, or much more 

 rarely by a sound that always demanded attention the 

 yawning grunt of a questing lion. 



If we wished to make an early start we would breakfast 

 by dawn and then we often returned to camp for lunch. 

 Otherwise we would usually be absent all day, carrying 

 our lunch with us. We might get in before sunset or we 

 might be out till long after nightfall; and then the gleam 

 of the lit fires was a welcome sight as we stumbled toward 

 them through the darkness. Once in, each went to his 

 tent to take a hot bath; and then, clean and refreshed, we 



