94 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



or night ever came amiss to him. He had already trained 

 eight Wakamba porters to act as skinners under his super- 

 vision. On hearing of our success, he at once said that we 

 ought to march out to the game that night so as to get to 

 work by daylight. Moreover, we were not comfortable at 

 leaving only two men with each carcass, for lions were both 

 bold and plentiful. 



The moon rose at eight and we started as soon as she 

 was above the horizon. We did not take the horses, be- 

 cause there was no water where we were going, and fur- 

 thermore we did not like to expose them to a possible attack 

 by lions. The march out by moonlight was good fun, for 

 though I had been out all day, I had been riding, not walk- 

 ing, and so was not tired. A hundred porters went with us 

 so as to enable us to do the work quickly and bring back 

 to camp the skins and all the meat needed, and these por- 

 ters carried water, food for breakfast, and what little was 

 necessary for a one-night camp. We tramped along in sin- 

 gle file under the moonlight, up and down the hills, and 

 through the scattered thorn forest. Kermit and Medlicott 

 went first, and struck such a pace that after an hour we had 

 to halt them so as to let the tail end of the file of porters 

 catch up. Then Captain Slatter and I set a more de- 

 corus pace, keeping the porters closed up in line behind us. 

 In another hour we began to go down a long slope toward 

 a pin-point of light in the distance which we knew was the 

 fire by the rhinoceros. The porters, like the big children they 

 were, felt in high feather, and began to chant to an accom- 

 paniment of whistling and horn-blowing as we tramped 

 through the dry grass which was flooded with silver by the 

 moon, now high in the heavens. 



