2 IN AFRICA 



swarmed with inviting dangers and alluring ro- 

 mance. 



One by one my other youthful ambitions have 

 been laid away. I have given up hope of ever being 

 an Indian fighter out on the plains, because the 

 pesky redskins have long since ceased to need my 

 strong right arm to quell them. I also have yielded 

 up my ambition to be a sailor, or rather, that branch 

 of the profession in which I hoped to specialize 

 piracy because, for some regretful reason, piracy 

 has lost much of its charm in these days of great 

 liners. There is no treasure to search for any more, 

 and the golden age of the splendid clipper ships, 

 with their immense spread of canvas, has given way 

 to the unromantic age of the grimy steamer, about 

 which there is so little to appeal to the imagination. 

 Consequently, lion hunting is about the only thing 

 left except wars, and they are few and far be- 

 tween. 



And so, after suffering this "lion-hunting" am- 

 bition to lie fallow for many years, I at last reached 

 a day when it seemed possible to realize it. The 

 chance came in a curiously unexpected way. Mr. 

 Akeley, a man famed in African hunting exploits, 

 was to deliver a talk before a little club to which I 

 belonged. I went, and as a result of my thrilled 

 interest in every word he said, I met him and talked 

 with him and finally was asked to join a new Afri- 

 can expedition that he had in prospect. With the 

 party were to be Mrs. Akeley, with a record of 

 fourteen months in the big game country, and Mr. 



