CHAP. XVI EN ROUTE FOR EL BO GO I 371 



swinging the long logs of ivory round behind their backs on to 

 the other shoulder. 



Fortunately, at this time there was a morning moon (that 

 is, it was on the wane), so that, knowing our way now, we 

 could start as early as we liked ; and with a " heavy safari " 

 nothing is so important as to get as much of the march as 

 possible in the cool of the morning. When the sun gets high 

 overhead, every quarter of an hour tires the men more than 

 an extra hour before sunrise. So I used to get the ivory 

 party off by 4.30 or even 4 A.M., as long as the moon lasted. 

 This meant being up by 3, or soon after, m3'self, as the 

 donkeys had to be loaded (a longish process), and I did not 

 like to leave them far behind. 



On the second morning I was compelled (most regretfully) 

 to shoot a rhino ; I say regretfully, because it was early in 

 the morning, and we could not afford to waste time over it, 

 nor was it desirable to let the men pile meat on top of their 

 heavy loads with the march before them. So I would gladly 

 have left them alone (there were two), had they not come 

 blundering towards the caravan. No one would have been 

 hurt, in all probability, had I allowed them to come on ; but 

 the loads would all have been chucked down and very likely 

 something broken. Besides, it damages ivory to throw it 

 down on stones or even hard ground, and I have had tusks 

 splintered and chipped so through a " faro " scare. I therefore 

 felt constrained to administer a .303 bullet to the leading one, 

 which turned them both and brought the one which had 

 received it to the ground in a few strides, and, after a squeal 

 or two, to its last breath. It was a young cow, adult, but 

 very small, and after examining and measuring it I had to 

 leave it — with much sorrow for having been driven reluctantly 

 to cause its useless death — to the vultures and hyenas. 



My custom was not to attempt to shoot anything during 

 the march ; to do so would delay us, and we had quite 

 enough to carry already. But I did my best to procure meat 



