GREAT HERDS OF WILD GAME 
59 
require an additional amount to face an angry 
rhino or to attempt to get African buffalo. The 
last-named creature is a vindictive, crafty beast 
that is feared by old African hunters more than 
they fear any other animal. In consequence of 
these dangers we decided that it might be well to 
give our nerves a thorough test before going out 
with them. If they were not in good condition it 
would be well to know of it before rather than 
after going up against a strange and hostile lion. 
That is why we went up in the balloon in Nairobi. 
The balloon was one of the two Boyce balloons and 
had never been tried. It was small, of twelve thou¬ 
sand cubic feet capacity, as compared with the 
seventy thousand foot balloons that do the racing. 
It was also being tried at an altitude of over 
five thousand feet under uncertain wind and 
heat conditions, and so the element of uncer¬ 
tainty was aggravated. We felt that if we could 
go up in a new balloon of a small size it might 
demonstrate whether we should later go up a tree 
or stand pat against a charging menagerie. 
There was a great crowd gathered on the hill 
where this balloon was being inflated. Since five 
o’clock in the morning the gas had been generating 
in the wooden tanks, and from these was being con¬ 
ducted by a cloth tube to the mouth of the balloon. 
The natives squatted wonderingly about in a circle, 
mystified and excited. At three o’clock the balloon 
was over half filled and was swaying savagely at its 
anchorage. A strong wind was blowing, and Mr* 
