CHAPTER VI 



BENIGHTED IN THE JUNGLE 



Mercy o' me, what a multitude are here ! They grow still, 

 too ; from all sides they are coming 



King Henry VII 1 



O, I have passed a miserable night, 



So full of ugly sights, of ghostly dreams 



King Richard III 



One of our hunters, a melancholy visaged individual, 

 was a very amusing personage to go out with alone. 

 He always acted like the guide of a Cook's personally 

 conducted tour. Not a tree, or twig, or water-hole 

 was left to be seen or not seen by us. All must be 

 brought to the notice of the Mem-sahibs. It reduced 

 the tracking of game to a delicious farce. If we sighted 

 an antelope he would first point it out to me most 

 carefully, telling me about the distance the creature 

 was from us, perhaps saying commandingly, "You 

 shoot urn," handing me my own rifle as though he 

 were giving me a valuable present. 



Sometimes he even went the length of putting it to 

 my shoulder and cocking it for me, and was a grand- 

 motherly hunter indeed! He spoiled a glorious 

 chance for me one day with his chaperoning me 

 through tactics, actually telling me the precise moment 

 to fire, and when I did, at my own moment, and — 



