I20 THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 



l£ was now time to turn home. The sun was low 

 and the shadows long. It is not well to be out in the 

 first dark of Africa. The nightfall is hungry and 

 dangerous; though the dawn is fed and safe. And when 

 the sun dips below the horizon, darkness comes as the 

 dawn comes, swift and sharp as the fall of a sword. 



Here under the equator the sun keeps very regular 

 hours. The difference between his rising or setting 

 times in summer and winter is only about twenty 

 minutes. One can count on about six o 'clock, morning 

 or evening, for those performances. It is very handy. 

 One does not have to estimate the sun as '^an hour 

 high''; he simply looks at his watch and knows it is an 

 hour high. That is fairly important when one wants 

 to know when to turn camp ward. 



Very reluctant to break up this peaceful scene, I 

 killed a topi at 243 yards for ourselves, and one at 208 

 yards to send back to Dolo when I dispatch my relay 

 to-morrow. Then Memba Sasa and I circled to cut 

 the stream some distance below camp. Near the river 

 the trees are thicker on the hill. Here we caught 

 a glimpse of sing-sing. Did some very careful slow 

 stalking and got within 150 yards all right. Difficulty 

 was to make them out, and to get a shot through the 

 thick stuff even then. I had to wait nearly half an 

 hour before I made out the buck's shoulder clear enough 

 to shoot. Dropped him in his tracks at 160 yards. The 

 herd crashed away, of course, but one doe paused to look 



