MEMBA SASA 



bined with a very long familiarity with firearms, 

 enabled me to do some fairish shooting, after the 

 strangeness of these new conditions had been mas- 

 tered. Memba Sasa began to take a dawning in- 

 terest in me as a possible source of pride. We began 

 to develop between us a means of communication. 

 I set myself deliberately to learn his language, and 

 after he had cautiously determined that I really 

 meant it, he took the greatest pains always gravely 

 to teach me. A more human feeling sprang up 

 between us. 



But we had still the final test to undergo that 

 of danger and the tight corner. 



In close quarters the gunbearer has the hardest 

 job in the world. I have the most profound respect 

 for his absolute courage. Even to a man armed and 

 privileged to shoot and defend himself, a charging 

 lion is an awesome thing, requiring a certain amount 

 of coolness and resolution to face effectively. Think 

 of the gunbearer at his elbow, depending not on him- 

 self but on the courage and coolness of another. He 

 cannot do one solitary thing to defend himself. To 

 bolt for the safety of a tree is to beg the question 

 completely, to brand himself as a shenzi forever; to 

 fire a gun in any circumstances is to beg the question 

 also, for the white man must be able to depend ab- 

 solutely on his second gun in an emergency. Those 



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