2 
IN AFRICA 
swarmed with inviting dangers and alluring ro¬ 
mance. 
One by one my other youthful ambitions have 
been laid away. I have given up hope of ever being 
an Indian fighter out on the plains, because the 
pesky redskins have long since ceased to need my 
strong right arm to quell them. I also have yielded 
up my ambition to be a sailor, or rather, that branch 
of the profession in which I hoped to specialize— 
piracy—because, for some regretful reason, piracy 
has lost much of its charm in these days of great 
liners. There is no treasure to search for any more, 
and the golden age of the splendid clipper ships, 
with their immense spread of canvas, has given way 
to the unromantic age of the grimy steamer, about 
which there is so little to appeal to the imagination. 
Consequently, lion hunting is about the only thing 
left—except wars, and they are few and far be¬ 
tween. 
And so, after suffering this “lion-hunting” am¬ 
bition to lie fallow for many years, I at last reached 
a day when it seemed possible to realize it. The 
chance came in a curiously unexpected way. Mr. 
Akeley, a man famed in African hunting exploits, 
was to deliver a talk before a little club to which I 
belonged. I went, and as a result of my thrilled 
interest in every word he said, I met him and talked 
with him and finally was asked to join a new Afri¬ 
can expedition that he had in prospect. With the 
party were to be Mrs. Akeley, with a record of 
fourteen months in the big game country, and Mr. 
DSl 
