AFRICA 



half arc. Then for the first time I noticed that, under 

 coverof the insults, the women and children had silent- 

 ly retired. Once more I was left to the familiar gentle 

 bird calls, and the vast silence of the wilderness beyond. 



The second picture, also, was a view from a height, 

 but of a totally different character. It was also, 

 perhaps, more typical of a greater part of East 

 Equatorial Africa. Four of us were hunting lions 

 with natives — both wild and tame — and a scratch 

 pack of dogs. More of that later. We had rum- 

 maged around all the morning without any results; 

 and now at noon had climbed to the top of a butte 

 to eat lunch and look abroad. 



Our butte ran up a gentle but accelerating slope 

 to a peak of big rounded rocks and slabs sticking out 

 boldly from the soil of the hill. We made ourselves 

 comfortable each after his fashion. The gunbearers 

 leaned against rocks and rolled cigarettes. The 

 savages squatted on their heels, planting their spears 

 ceremonially in front of them. One of my friends 

 lay on his back, resting a huge telescope over his 

 crossed feet. With this he purposed seeing any 

 lion that moved within ten miles. None of the rest 

 of us could ever make out anything through the fear- 

 some weapon. Therefore, relieved from responsibility 

 by the presence of this Dreadnaught of a 'scope, we 

 loafed and looked about us. This is what we saw: 



19 



