THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 91 



indeed for the next ten days or so we were never out of 

 fine charcoal footing which arose in clouds and which 

 grimed up everything. We were always very dirty, 

 but it was a good, clean, healthful antiseptic sort 

 of dirt, and the absence of high grass made shooting 

 easier. 



But here we ran into multitudes of game, game 

 that had never heard a rifle shot; had probably never 

 seen a man save possibly a stray Wanderobo. It stood 

 about in groups and singly, and stared at us in stupefied 

 astonishment while we went by, never taking the trouble 

 even to move unless it happened to be to leeward of 

 us. Never will anybody again get into virgin game 

 fields like these, for they are the last bit unexplored 

 and we dropped into the abundance of them so sud- 

 denly! Wildebeeste, even, stood at 100 yards and let 

 us pass, and topi and kongoni, zebra. Tommy, eland, 

 Robertsi, steinbuck, dik-dik merely trotted a few steps, 

 and stared, and trotted a few steps more, and stared 

 again. I expected some of them to come up and beg 

 for peanuts. It was a wonderful sight. 



By and by we passed a bold outcrop of rocks, wherein 

 were klip-springers and reedbuck bounding around, 

 and began a long gentle downward slope that led to the 

 river. We arrived at hot noon — to find it a dry wash ! 



However, we soon discovered a pool in the rocks, and 

 made camp on a Httle patch of clean grass that had 

 escaped burning. A donkey died on the road. 



