356 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



ern form, of which we had already shot specimens near its 

 northern, or at least north-eastern, limit. The distinction 

 proved sharp. 



On the day in question we breakfasted at six in the 

 morning, and were off immediately afterward; and we did 

 not eat anything again until supper at quarter to ten in the 

 evening. In a hot climate a hunter does not need lunch; 

 and though in a cold climate a simple lunch is permissible, 

 anything like an elaborate or luxurious lunch is utterly out 

 of place if the man is more than a parlor or drawing-room 

 sportsman. We saw no sign of giraffe until late in the after- 

 noon. Hour after hour we plodded across the plain, now 

 walking, now riding, in the burning heat. The withered 

 grass was as dry as a bone, for the country had been many 

 months without rain; yet the oryx, zebra, and gazelle evi- 

 dently throve on the harsh pasturage. There were innu- 

 merable game trails leading hither and thither, and, after 

 the fashion of game trails, usually fading out after a few 

 hundred yards. But there were certain trails which did 

 not fade out. These were the ones which led to water. 

 One such we followed. It led across stretches of grassland, 

 through thin bush, thorny and almost leafless, over tracts of 

 rotten soil, cracked and crumbling, and over other tracts 

 where the unshod horses picked their way gingerly among 

 the masses of sharp-edged volcanic stones. Other trails 

 joined in, and it grew more deeply marked. At last it led 

 to a bend in a little river, where flat shelves of limestone 

 bordered a kind of pool in the current where there were 

 beds of green rushes and a fringe of trees and thorn thickets. 

 This was evidently a favorite drinking-place. Many trails 

 converged toward it, and for a long distance round the 

 ground was worn completely bare by the hoofs of the count- 

 less herds of thirsty game that had travelled thither from 

 time immemorial. Sleek, handsome, long-horned oryx, with 

 switching tails, were loitering in the vicinity, and at the 

 waterhole itself we surprised a band of gazelles not fifty 

 yards off; they fled panic-struck in every direction. Men 



