SPOTTED DEER 



He loves the danger of big game hunting ; he equally 

 loves the excitement of smaller game stalking ; camp life 

 appeals to him ; solitude calls him, and the plain or the 

 jungle ^form a never-ending attraction as long as health 

 and strength endure. 



It is the same with explorers. Look at the fearful 

 hardships which most of them undergo yet they return 

 again and again, unable to resist " the call." 



By some dispensation of Providence the mind of man 

 retains only the vivid memories of pleasure and excitement, 

 the attendant pains and penalties being entirely forgotten. 

 Hence a sportsman or explorer remembers only his plea- 

 sures and forgets his pains. In a very small way I have 

 undergone out here, in pursuit of my favourite sport, 

 every possible kind of discomfort, but my keenness is 

 undiminished. 



I have, time after time, been soaked, bag and baggage ; 

 food spoiled ; been seedy, footsore, and weary ; servants 

 ill ; cart bulls knocked up or dead ; pack bulls bolted and 

 lost in the jungle, and perhaps an utter failure to bag 

 game of any sort, not to mention such minor details as 

 plagues of ticks, leeches, ants, and innumerable other abomi- 

 nations ; and yet within a week after getting back I have 

 forgotten everything but the " call of the jungle," the 

 glory of the forest, and the green loveliness of the parks, 

 longing for the time to come round again when I can once 

 more take the road and leave civilisation behind for a 

 spell. 



As a case in point, here is a little reminiscence of one 

 of the most uncomfortable nights I ever spent in the 

 jungle. 



The month was November, and it ought to have been 

 wet, but was not wet hence our undoing. 



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