MEMBA SASA 



bined with a very long familiarity with firearms, 

 enabled me to do some fairish shooting, after the 

 strangeness of these new conditions had been mas- 

 tered. Memba Sasa began to take a dawning in- 

 terest in me as a possible source of pride. We began 

 to develop between us a means of communication. 

 I set myself deliberately to learn his language, and 

 after he had cautiously determined that I really 

 meant it, he took the greatest pains — always gravely 

 — to teach me. A more human feeling sprang up 

 between us. 



But we had still the final test to undergo — that 

 of danger and the tight corner. 



In close quarters the gunbearer has the hardest 

 job in the world. I have the most profound respect 

 for his absolute courage. Even to a man armed and 

 privileged to shoot and defend himself, a charging 

 lion is an awesome thing, requiring a certain amount 

 of coolness and resolution to face effectively. Think 

 of the gunbearer at his elbow, depending not on him- 

 self but on the courage and coolness of another. He 

 cannot do one solitary thing to defend himself. To 

 bolt for the safety of a tree is to beg the question 

 completely, to brand himself as a shenzi forever; to 

 fire a gun in any circumstances is to beg the question 

 also, for the white man must be able to depend ab- 

 solutely on his second gun in an emergency. Those 



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