AFRICAN CAMP FIRES 



landed smash in the middle of this; clasped it with 

 all four hands; swayed alarmingly; recovered and 

 scampered ashore. It was rather a nice problem 

 in ballistics, this; for the mistake in calculation of 

 a foot in distance or a pound in push would land 

 Mr. Monkey in the water. And the joke of it was 

 that directly beneath that bush lay two hungry- 

 looking crocodiles! As each tiny body hurtled 

 through the air I'll swear a look of hope came into 

 the eyes of those crocs. We watched until the last 

 had made his leap. There were no mistakes. The 

 joke was on the crocodiles. 



We encountered quite a number of dog-faced 

 baboons. These big apes always retreated very 

 slowly and noisily. Scouts in the rear guard were 

 continually ascending small trees or bushes for a 

 better look at us, then leaping down to make dis- 

 paraging remarks. One lot seemed to show such 

 variation in colour from the usual that we shot 

 one. The distance was about two hundred and 

 fifty yards. Immediately the whole band — a hun- 

 dred or so strong — dropped on all fours and started 

 in our direction. This was rather terrifying. How- 

 ever, as we stood firm, they slowly came to a halt 

 at about seventy yards, barked and chattered for 

 a moment, then hopped away to right and left. 



224 



