274 IN AFRICA 



the line of jam and cheese. That was luncheon, and 

 we resolved to do better for dinner. 



We told the cook all about Thanksgiving Day 

 and what its chief purpose was. We also told him 

 of the beautiful significance of the occasion, what 

 happy thoughts it inspired, and how much senti- 

 ment was attached to it. Then we told him to get 

 busy. We were in a Thanksgiving mood, being 

 grateful that we were not riding around on the 

 bowsprit of the rhino, and also because our relatives 

 and friends at home were well at last reports, two 

 months old. 



True, our guide, who had never been over the 

 trail before and who was trying to guess the way 

 by instinct, had got us hopelessly becalmed in 

 a sea of high grass so that we didn't know where we 

 were. But we knew what we were. We were hun- 

 gry I 



In the meantime we planned and carried into 

 brilliant execution a grouse hunt. There were lots 

 of grouse in the country through which we had 

 come and all day long coveys of them had been 

 whirring away from our advancing outposts. It 

 seemed a simple thing to go out and get a few for 

 our Thanksgiving dinner, so we gave orders to 

 make camp and consecrated the afternoon to a 

 grouse quest. 



I'll never forget what a formidable looking 

 party it was. When we had spread out to comb the 

 grass by the river side we looked like a skirmish 

 line of an army. There were four of us, supported 



