HUNTING THE OKAPI 263 



During this time, Jose was in the forest a day to the 

 south, where I had sent him to hunt the okapi, so that 

 we might cover as large an area as possible in our search. 



Having exhausted the possibilities of Lobi and its neigh- 

 bourhood for collecting I left one morning to catch up with 

 him. It was now three weeks since we had left Angu and I 

 had received no news from Gosling. The chances now of 

 getting an okapi seemed farther off than ever, indeed I had 

 almost put the matter out of mind. I had not gone far on 

 my road when one of our " boys " appeared round a turning 

 in the path carrying meat and a note from Jose. As I opened 

 it nothing was farther from my thoughts than the okapi, so 

 imagine my astonishment and delight when I read that he 

 had killed one and that here was its meat ! 



Hearing that Gosling was coming in I returned at once 

 to the village, and two hours later he arrived looking very 

 fatigued and depressed at his failure to get an okapi. He 

 had suffered from fever, the result of many wettings and 

 hard work in the forest. " Cheer up. Goose," I said, " I 

 am going to give you okapi cutlets for luncheon ! " His 

 face immediately lit up at the great news, and soon, like 

 Roman emperors, we were feasting on the rarest animal in 

 the world, fully appreciating the fact that we were the first 

 white men to eat the meat of the okapi. It was very tender 

 and tasted like beef. 



While Gosling left for Angu I went to join Jose and help 

 him, if necessary, with the okapi skin. That evening saw 

 me at the small village of Beritio, but Jose was still out in 

 the forest and did not return till next day with the okapi. 



The weather had been very much against the skin 



