i THE HUNTER'S LIFE 15 



and make love, and above all, there is an incessant 

 talk of the chase. Every little incident is related 

 over and over again, just as a golfer analyses his 

 game to the listener who can command sufficient 

 patience to be bored with the dull details, and from 

 my tent, I can hear how, at such and such a moment, 

 bwana (master) did this or did that, and how the 

 dembo (elephant) behaved under the circumstances. 



The ' sentinel stars have already set their watch 

 in the sky,' and now the moon, rising with glorious 

 effulgence, pales the lesser lights of heaven to 

 insignificance and silvers the pori with a mystery 

 that thrills me silently. The shadows are cut sharp 

 and intense. I lie and listen to the ebb of the noisy 

 jovialities ; a soft wind flaps in at my tent, and 

 there is something so somnolent in the monotonous 

 sound, that my senses are soon steeped in sound 

 and refreshing sleep. 



Give me the life of the pori ! I think it would be 

 difficult to find another so full of wild, exhilarating 

 excitement, hair-breadth escapes, and devil-may-care 

 risks, and though the end is usually swift, perhaps 

 that is better than flickering out slowly on a bed of 

 sickness. If anyone has a desire to live, where 

 living is really full-blooded living, let him go and 

 spend some of his time among wild animal life far 

 away from the insidious comforts and the petty 

 restraints of life in a civilized community. 



