Soldiering and Sport in Uganda 



trees dotted the landscape, while here and there 

 delightful peeps could be obtained down open 

 glades looking refreshing and cool after the recent 

 rains, and ripe with the promise of game. It was 

 coming down one of these valleys that we ran into 

 a herd of buck. Their leader was a very fine big 

 specimen. I took a running shot at him, but 

 missed badly, much to the disappointment of my 

 whole "safari," which had stopped temporarily to 

 watch the result, their keen appetites leading them 

 to hope that it would have been successful. 



Half a mile farther on the rain started, but I 

 had become so used to being drenched to the skin 

 that it made little difference to me, beyond the 

 discomfort it caused. I suppose I was within three 

 miles of Namberenzi, my objective, when I called a 

 halt. The rain was falling fast and furious, I was 

 very hungry, and I had entirely lost my bearings. 

 The deluge obliterated the entire landscape, and had 

 I gone on any further without a capable guide, 

 I should probably have ended by going round in a 

 circle. I chose a fairly flat piece of ground for the 

 camp, and told my escort to collect brushwood 

 while I sat down on an ant heap to count the 

 minutes until my "safari," which had evidently taken 

 a rest some miles behind, should turn up. It is in 

 these moments that one begins to calculate whether 

 the sport is worth the discomfort. You have no 

 one to grumble to, in order to vent your feelings, 

 so you naturally start railing against your own 

 stupidity, which brought you out on a wild goose 



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