ON THE STAND AT NIGHT 



Will the reader follow me to my stand? 



It has been well prepared in a thorn thicket, into 

 which even a lion will hardly be able to penetrate. 

 An entrance has been cut into it, and three small cir- 

 cular openings have been made for me to pass through, . 

 if an opportunity should present itself. I have chosen 

 this stand, not far from a drinking-place, which is— as 

 the tracks tell me — frequented not only by ordinary 

 game, but also by lions and even rhinoceroses. At 

 break of night I take my stand with a reliable native. 

 The entrance is securely blocked by means of thorny 

 brushwood. Soon three spurred partridges come fly- 

 ing ; they see us and flutter aw^ay . Strings of pigeons flit 

 to and fro, to drink and to settle down for the night on 

 trees and bushes. 



The sun has set, but the light of the moon, brighter in 

 the tropics than in the higher latitudes, enables us to 

 distinguish the objects around us. I see that the bull — 

 already doomed to die by the sting of the tsetse-fly — 

 which is fastened as bait to a tree, has calmed dow^n 

 and is eating his allowance of dry grass. In the tops 

 of some trees near by a family of galagoes have made 

 their temporary home. The laughing cry of these long- 

 tailed lemurs is heard from time to time all through 

 the night. An hour has gone by. A herd of antelopes 

 pass us on their way to the drinking-place. They are 

 watcr-l:)ucks. They drink their fill and disappear again. 

 Though I begin to feel tired and slee])y, I force myself 



365 



