THE TANA RIVER 



at a great rate of speed far ahead of us. After an 

 interval came a great shout in chorus. By this we 

 knew that the quarry had been definitely brought 

 to a stand. Arriving at the spot we craned our heads 

 backward, and proceeded to get a crick in the neck 

 trying to make out invisible colobus in the very tops 

 of the trees above us. For gaudily marked beasts 

 the colobus were extraordinarily difficult to see. 

 This was in no sense owing to any far-fetched appli- 

 cation of protective colouration; but to the remark- 

 able skill the animals possessed in concealing them- 

 selves behind apparently the scantiest and most 

 inadequate cover. Fortunately for us our boys' 

 ability to see them was equally remarkable. Indeed, 

 the most difficult part of their task was to point the 

 game out to us. We squinted, and changed posi- 

 tion, and tried hard to follow directions eagerly 

 proffered by a dozen of the men. Finally one of us 

 would, by the aid of six power-glasses, make out, or 

 guess at a small tuft of white or black hair showing 

 beyond the concealment of a bunch of leaves. We 

 would unlimber the shotgun and send a charge of 

 BB into that bunch. Then down would plump 

 the game, to the huge and vociferous delight of 

 all the boys. Or, as occasionally happened, 

 the shot was followed merely by a shower of 

 leaves and a chorus of expostulations indicating 



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