162 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



ing two hundred and sixty pounds; for topi are some- 

 what smaller than kongoni. The beauty of its coat, in 

 texture and coloring, struck me afresh as I looked at the 

 sleek creature stretched out on the grass. Like the eland, 

 it was free from ticks; for the hideous pests do not fre- 

 quent this part of the country in any great numbers. 



I reached camp early in the afternoon, and sat down at 

 the mouth of my tent to enjoy myself. It was on such occa- 

 sions that the "Pigskin Library" proved itself indeed a 

 blessing. In addition to the original books we had picked 

 up one or two old favorites on the way: Alice's Adventures, 

 for instance, and Fitzgerald I say Fitzgerald, because 

 reading other versions of Omar Khayyam always leaves 

 me with the feeling that Fitzgerald is the major partner in 

 the book we really like. Then there was a book I had 

 not read, Dumas's "Louves de Machecoul." This was 

 presented to me at Port Said by M. Jusserand, the brother 

 of an old and valued friend, the French ambassador at 

 Washington the vice-president of the "Tennis Cabinet." 

 We had been speaking of Balzac, and I mentioned regret- 

 fully that I did not at heart care for his longer novels ex- 

 cepting the "Chouans"; and, as John Hay once told me, 

 in the eye of all true Balzacians to like the "Chouans" 

 merely aggravates the offence of not liking the novels which 

 they deem really great. M. Jusserand thereupon asked 

 me if I knew Dumas's Vendean novel; being a fairly good 

 Dumas man, I was rather ashamed to admit that I did not; 

 whereupon he sent it to me, and I enjoyed it to the full. 



The next day was Kermit's red-letter day. We were 

 each out until after dark; I merely got some of the ordinary 

 game, taking the skins for the naturalists, the flesh for our 



