XIV 
RETURN TO LAKE RUDOLPH 
335 
fleetly up and down, and chasing each other in and out among 
the herd. Once or twice I had the opportunity of witnessing 
a fight between two bulls. Between the rounds they stand a 
little apart, pretending, as it were, to take no notice of each 
other; then, suddenly, as if instinctively impelled by some 
simultaneous impulse, they rush together, going down on their 
knees as their heads clash. At night the topi used to come 
quite close up to my camp, and I have seen their footprints in 
the morning within fifty yards of my hut, and often heard them 
grunting and sneezing in the night. There were also a good 
sprinkling of Grant’s gazelle about, and a few zebra. The 
latter were seldom to be seen during daylight, but on moon¬ 
light nights I could sometimes make out the clouds of dust 
they raised in rolling, and the bray of Grevy’s zebra was con¬ 
stantly to be heard then. The gazelles drop their fawns a little 
later than the topi, apparently. 1 A few giraffe are also found 
(absent all along the lake southward), and I often saw a little 
lot of ostriches when taking a stroll in the cool of the even¬ 
ing. The sound made by the cock ostrich is commonly called 
a roar ; but to my mind “ drumming ” is a more appropriate 
description of it, and my men used to say that the ostrich 
was “ striking its drum ” ; it has some resemblance, on an 
exaggerated scale, to the drumming of a cock turkey. I could 
trace no resemblance to the voice of the lion, which was not 
wanting for purposes of comparison, being audible almost every 
night at this time. Another familiar sound, which often added 
its volume to the nocturnal music here, was the sonorous bellow¬ 
ing of the hippos in the lake. 
With game so near, I was able, as I gained strength, to 
procure meat, even within the limited range of my early morning 
strolls, the length of which I was gradually able to extend, 
starting with the first streaks of dawn and usually getting back 
before the sun became very hot. Thus I could generally shoot 
1 If I am not mistaken, the breeding-time is different south of the line, but in this I 
am open to correction. 
