176 After Big Game in Central Africa 



plan had been made by Rodzani at our installa- 

 tion. We were there five or six nights without 

 anything happening. The few animals which had 

 broken the monotony of our waiting buffaloes 

 and antelopes for the most part had gone down 

 to the water on the side which was not steep. 

 These animals do not like to descend a steep slope to 

 drink, because it prevents them, when at the bottom, 

 from seeing the surroundings, and they fear surprises. 

 But you must always beware of the rhinoceros, and 

 we had done well, as will be seen, not to trust to 

 chance. 



The evening, then, as I have just said, we take up 

 our position. The first hour passes very quietly. 

 Though there is no moon, the night is very clear, and 

 the sky is sown with stars. Two hundred yards 

 behind us is the dry bed of a river strewn with dry 

 leaves, which have constituted a precious means of 

 warning to us. For the last four days our pachyderm 

 has not paid the shortest visit to these regions. This 

 silence, this monotony of waiting, and my immobility 

 produce a certain torpidness in me ; I have the 

 greatest difficulty in the world to keep awake ; I rub 

 my head and drink water, so as not to fall asleep. 

 My men, silent as statues as usual, listen, and 

 vigilantly keep their eyes open. From time to time 

 they nudge me with their elbows to point out some- 

 thing which attracts their attention. I take my 

 glass, and by the animal's gait, its method of pro- 

 ceeding, rather than by direct vision, I recognise it. 

 Sometimes it is a hyena, which is recognisable by its 



