276 IN AFRICA 



tal of our slaughter and when the army marched 

 back into camp with its one little grouse the effect 

 was laughable in the extreme. I took a photograph 

 of the entire group and by good luck the grouse is 

 faintly seen suspended in the middle. 



That night, with the camp-fires burning and with 

 our tents almost buried in the tall grass, we cele- 

 brated Thanksgiving in a way that must have made 

 old Lucullus fidget in his mausoleum. The wealth 

 of the plains was compelled to yield tribute to our 

 table ; eland, grouse and Uganda cob appeared and 

 disappeared as if by magic; the vast storehouses 

 of Europe and America poured their treasures 

 upon our groaning board, and one by one we 

 safely put away succulent lengths of asparagus, 

 cakes and chocolate, wine and olives, pickles and 

 honey, nuts and cheese, plum pudding and coffee, 

 and soup and salad, all in their proper sequence and 

 in sufficient quantities to go round and round. 



A soft moon shone down from the velvet sky and 

 the trees of the river bed were bathed in white moon- 

 light as we sat by the great camp-fire and smoked 

 and talked and dreamed of the folk at home. 



It was an unusual occasion, one that called for a 

 special dispensation in the way of late hours, so it 

 was almost nine when we turned in and dreamed of 

 armies of rhinos playing battledore and shuttlecock 

 with our bulging forms. It was a great dinner, 

 and to be on the safe side we complimented the cook 

 before we went to bed. 



A day or two later, after blindly floundering 



