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AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



quarry, under the leadership and supervision of Heller and 

 Cuninghame, and soon they were all splashed with blood 



from head to foot. One of the 

 trackers took off his blanket and 

 squatted stark naked inside the car- 

 cass the better to use his knife. 

 Each laborer rewarded himself by 

 cutting off strips of meat for his pri- 

 vate store, and hung them in red 

 festoons from the branches round 

 about. There was no let up in the 

 work until it was stopped by darkness. 

 Our tents were pitched in a 

 small open glade a hundred yards 

 from the dead elephant. The night 

 was clear, the stars shone brightly, 

 and in the west the young moon 

 hung just above the line of tall tree 

 tops. Fires were speedily kindled 

 and the men sat around them, feast- 

 ing and singing in a strange 

 minor tone until late in the 

 night. The flickering light 

 left them at one moment 

 in black obscurity, and the 

 next brought into bold re- 

 lief their sinewy crouching 

 figures, their dark faces, 

 gleaming eyes, and flashing teeth. When they did sleep, 

 two of the 'Ndorobo slept so close to the fire as to burn 

 themselves; an accident to which they are prone, judging 

 from the many scars of old burns on their legs. I toasted 

 slices of elephant's heart on a pronged stick before the fire, 

 and found it delicious; for I was hungry, and the night 

 was cold. We talked of our success and exulted over it, 

 and made our plans for the morrow; and then we turned 

 in under our blankets for another night's sleep. 



Suliman Na Meru, one of the elephant 



guides 

 From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt 



