64 IN AFRICA 



up a couple of hundred feet and was held there for 

 a moment. The wind once more sprang up and the 

 balloon was drawn down amid the cheers of the 

 crowd. She had been the first woman to make an 

 ascension in British East Africa, if not in all of 

 Africa. 



We then mounted our mules and rode out on the 

 open plains. Several hours before, our entire camp 

 had moved and we were to join them at a prear- 

 ranged spot out on the Athi Plains. All our pre- 

 liminary worries were over and at last we were 

 actually started. At six o'clock, far across the 

 country we saw the gleaming lights of our camp- 

 fires and the green tents that were to be our homes 

 for many weeks to come. Enormous herds of harte- 

 beest and wildebeest were on each side, and count- 

 less zebras. That night two of us heard the first 

 bark of the zebra, and we thought it must be the 

 bark of distant dogs. It was one of our first sur- 

 prises to learn that zebras bark instead of neigh. 



