ON SAFARI. RHINO AND GIRAFFE 
95 
As soon as we reached the rhino, Heller with his 
Wakamba skinners pushed forward the three-quarters of a 
mile to the eland, returning after midnight with the skin 
and all the best parts of the meat. 
Around the dead rhino the scene was lit up both by the 
moon and by the flicker of the fires. The porters made 
their camp under a small tree a dozen rods to one side of 
the carcass, building a low circular fence of branches on 
which they hung their bright-colored blankets, two or 
three big fires blazing to keep off possible lions. Half as 
far on the other side of the rhino a party of naked savages 
had established their camp, if camp it could be called, 
for really all they did was to squat down round a couple 
of fires with a few small bushes disposed round about. 
The rhino had been opened, and they had already taken 
out of the carcass what they regarded as titbits and what 
we certainly did not grudge them. Between the two camps 
lay the huge dead beast, his hide glistening in the moon¬ 
light. In each camp the men squatted around the fires 
chatting and laughing as they roasted strips of meat on 
long sticks, the fitful blaze playing over them, now leaving 
them in darkness, now bringing them out into a red relief. 
Our own tent was pitched under another tree a hundred 
yards off, and when I went to sleep, I could still hear the 
drumming and chanting of our feasting porters; the sav¬ 
ages were less at ease, and their revel was quiet. 
Early next morning I went back to camp, and soon after 
reaching there again started out for a hunt. In the after¬ 
noon I came on giraffes and got up near enough to shoot at 
them. But they are such enormous beasts that I thought 
them far nearer than they were. My bullet fell short, and 
