CHAPTER XXIII. 



Roosevelt and His Party Suffer from Hunger — Without 

 Food and Water for a Whole Day — Supplies Rushed For- 

 ward TO Their Relief — Bags Two Rhinoceroses and a 

 WiLDEBEEsTE — Kermit Gets a Female Hippopotamus to 

 THE Delight of His Father. 



W 



HEN the decision was reached by Colonel Roosevelt to accept 

 the generous invitation of Commander Frederic Atten- 

 borough to pay him a visit upon his vast estate and spend a few 

 days hunting for big game, the entire party seemed overjoyed, as 

 all felt that the hunt could be pursued with far greater comfort 

 here than from the temporary camps. 



R. J. Cuninghame, the practical director of the movements of 

 the party, expressed great satisfaction with the proposed arrange- 

 ment, as he said it would give an excellent opportunity for Colonel 

 Roosevelt to secure some fine specimens of big game; as the locality 

 was famous for its great abundance of large animals. Although 

 having had years of experience in traversing the country con- 

 tiguous to the Attenborough estate, Cuninghame seemed unaware 

 of the actual dangers the party would have to encounter before 

 reaching their destination. 



He failed to take into consideration the dry spell, which had 

 prevailed for so long, and underestimated the distance the party 

 would have to travel or the time it would take them to complete 

 the journey, which was the occasion of considerable deprivation and 

 some suffering while the party were on the march. 



Careful preparations were made, as it was thought at the time, 

 to provide a sufficient supply of water and food to enable the party 

 to reach the Attenborough brothers' estate without danger of run- 

 ning short, but the miscalculation of time and distance exhausted 

 their store long before they were near their journey's end. It was 

 necessary for the party to cross an arm of the desert on their way, 



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