CHAPTER XXVIII 



TRIUMPHANT CLOSE OF A THRILLING HUNT. 



Thic Trip Down the Nile — The: Expedition a Huge Success 

 — Many Rare Specimens Obtained — A Perilous Three 

 Days Trip — Kermit a Deadly Shot — Interested in 

 Natives — On Board the Steamer Dae — Arrival at Khar- 

 toum — Greeted by Officials — Cheered by Crowds. 



OOUND, common sense has been a distinguishing characteristic 

 ^ of Colonel Roosevelt's public and private life. Neither friend 

 nor enemy can deny it. He has preserved a perfectly " level head " 

 despite all the agencies working to turn it. An overplus of flatter- 

 ing attentions and invitations has been heaped upon him, and yet 

 his mental equilibrium has not been upset. The Emperor of 

 Germany and the President of France vied with each other in 

 planning to receive him with royal honors on his return from Africa, 

 but he steadily declined, though professing his deep appreciation 

 of their proffered courtesies, to be treated otherwise than as a 

 private citizen of the United States. It is this adherence to demo- 

 cratic principles that has made him popular with the people, and 

 there is no subject in which he becomes interested that the great 

 American public does not also immediately become interested. 



Colonel Roosevelt left the United States in March, 1909, with 

 the best wishes of millions of Americans that his expedition would 

 prove successful from a scientific standpoint, and that he would 

 have a safe return. This great expedition being a fact and the 

 fondest hopes of the scientists who made up the party were more 

 than realized. 



The guns of the expedition no longer are of use, as the hunt 

 officially ended with the killing at Lado Ensclave of a leopard, 

 cheetah, waterbuck and various kinds of antelopes. With the addi- 

 tion of these animals the collection of fauna is regarded as complete 

 as possible. 



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