AFRICAN CAMP FIRES 



again to the lower levels, and again took up our 

 slow, painstaking search. 



But although three days went by in this manner 

 without our getting a glimpse of lions, they were 

 far from being days lost. Minor adventure filled 

 our hours. What elsewhere would be major interest 

 of strange and interesting experience met us at 

 every turn. The game, while abundant, was very 

 shy. This had nothing to do with distrust of hunters ; 

 but merely to the fact that it was the season of 

 green grass. We liked to come upon animals un- 

 expectedly, to see them buck-jump and cavort. 



Otherwise we rode in a moving space cleared of 

 animals, the beasts unobtrusively giving way before 

 us, and as unobtrusively closing in behind. The 

 sun flashed on the spears of savages travelling 

 single file across the distance. Often we stopped 

 short to gaze upon a wild and tumbled horizon of 

 storm that Gustave Dore might have done. 



The dogs were always joyously routing out some 

 beast, desirable from their point of view, and chasing 

 it hopelessly about, to our great amusement. Once 

 they ran into a giant porcupine — about the size 

 a setter would be with shorter legs — which did 

 not understand running away. They came upon 

 it in a dense thicket, and the ensuing row was unholy. 

 They managed to kill the porcupine among them, 



i66 



