With Flashlight and Rifle -* 



Yes, such an adventure has, indeed, an indescribable 

 fascination. Far from the camp, in the moonlit, solitary 

 wilderness, to dare await the manifestations of the life of 

 these wild denizens of the forest to what sportsman, just 

 beginning his career, would not this present an irresistible 

 attraction? I have several times attempted the "raised 

 ambush,'' as well as the ambush in a thorn-thicket. And 

 I have been rewarded tor all my troubles, less by the 

 hunting trophies I have secured than by the wealth of 

 observations that I have been enabled to make. I will 

 refer the reader to the most veracious and highly graphic 

 descriptions by Count Coudenhove of his night-ambushes 

 for lions in Somaliland. 1 As he confesses, in simple, 

 straightforward words : ''I then learnt what fear really 

 was." That was my experience. 



Will the reader, then, follow me and my tried and 

 trusty black companion into my caretully arranged thorn- 

 ambush, the entrance to which is closed behind us by some 

 other servants by means of thorn-branches, and in which 

 we are finally left alone ? Three loopholes in three 

 different directions give me openings for my shots. With 

 the coverings we have brought along, we make ourselves 

 as comfortable as may be. 



I have selected my position so that I can count upon 



seeing lions as well as wild beasts of other kinds, even 



rhinoceroses, going to the water. After a while the 



sun is already setting there appear before us in the 



dry grass, their heads held very high, three fine, 



yellow-throated francolins ; but the wily birds have 



1 Count Hoyos, Z.n den Aulihans. 



628 



