442 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



and our faces toward the Great Bear; for we were march- 

 ing northward and homeward. The drum throbbed and 

 muttered as we walked, on and on, along the dim trail. 

 At last the stars began to pale, the gray east changed to 

 opal and amber and amethyst, the red splendor of the 

 sunrise flooded the world, and to the heat of the night 

 succeeded the more merciless heat of the day. Higher and 

 higher rose the sun. The sweat streamed down our faces, 

 and the bodies of the black men glistened like oiled iron. 

 We might halt early in the forenoon, or we might have 

 to march until noon, according to the distance from water- 

 hole to waterhole. 



Occasionally in the afternoons, and once when we 

 halted for a day to rest the porters, Kermit and I would 

 kill buck for the table hartebeest, reedbuck, and oribi. 

 I also killed a big red ground monkey, with baboon-like 

 habits; we had first seen the species on the Uasin Gishu, 

 and had tried in vain to get it, for it was wary, never sought 

 safety in trees, and showed both speed and endurance in 

 running. Kermit killed a bull and a cow roan antelope. 

 These so-called horse antelope are fine beasts, light roan in 

 color, with high withers, rather short curved horns, huge 

 ears, and bold face markings. Usually we found them 

 shy, but occasionally very tame. They are the most trucu- 

 lent and dangerous of all antelope; this bull, when seem- 

 ingly on the point of death, rose like a flash when Kermit 

 approached and charged him full tilt; Kermit had to fire 

 from the hip, luckily breaking the animal's neck. 



On the same day Loring had an interesting experi- 

 ence with one of the small cormorants so common in this 

 region. Previously, while visiting the rapids of the Nile 



