Round Lake Natron 



distance along this side of the river. Sure enough 

 there they are ! Ghostly shapes lithe and wiry 

 that stand and stare, partly from surprise, 

 and partly from excitement, and then bound off 

 wholly from excitement and joy that they as well 

 as we are alive and well on such a morning. 

 " Thanks, you may go ; we don't want you. We 

 know one another so thoroughly ! " Never did 

 either of us have a shot at our friends in that herd, 

 and I rather believe that in the end they made up 

 their minds that we were a gigantic farce, in spite 

 of all their wild acquaintances' assurances that we 

 were the very worst people in Africa, and sought 

 for the blood, or rather the heads, of every animal 

 around. 



N earing the place where we expected to meet our 

 monster water-buck, we stopped and motioned the 

 porters who accompanied us to sit quietly behind 

 a bush. Silently and warily we advanced, with 

 only one gun-bearer between us with a heavy 

 rifle, in case of a charge from a belated buffalo or 

 rhino that had been having a night out. The 

 sky was getting pinker and pinker, the air colder 

 and colder, as it does just before dawn, and the 

 mist hung heavy over the swamp. 



A reed-buck or two darted across our path, but 

 we took no notice and crept on. A herd of water- 

 buck strolled across, feeding as they went, and 

 our hearts beat loudly as this might be the lot we 

 wanted. He was not there ; so having waited 



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