THE RHINOCEROS OF THE LADO 405 
Shortly afterward one of the fires against which we were 
guarding came over a low hill-crest into view, beyond the 
line of our back fire. It was a fine sight to see the long line 
of leaping, wavering flames advance toward one another. 
An hour or two passed before they met, half a mile from 
camp. Wherever they came together there would be a 
moment’s spurt of roaring, crackling fire, and then it would 
vanish, leaving at that point a blank in the circle of flame. 
Gradually the blanks in the lines extended, until the fire 
thus burnt itself out, and darkness succeeded the bright 
red glare. 
The fires continued to burn in our neighborhood for a 
couple of days. Finally one evening the great beds of 
papyrus across the bay caught fire. After nightfall it was 
splendid to see the line of flames, leaping fifty feet into the 
air as they worked across the serried masses of tall papy¬ 
rus. When they came toward the water they kindled the 
surface of the bay into a ruddy glare, while above them the 
crimson smoke clouds drifted slowly to leeward. The fire 
did not die out until toward morning; and then, behind it, 
we heard the grand booming chorus of a party of lions. 
They were full fed, and roaring as they went to their day 
beds; each would utter a succession of roars which grew 
louder and louder until they fairly thundered, and then 
died gradually away, until they ended in a succession of 
sighs and grunts. 
As the fires burned to and fro across the country birds of 
many kinds came to the edge of the flames to pick up the 
insects which were driven out. There were marabou 
storks, kites, hawks, ground hornbills, and flocks of beau¬ 
tiful egrets and cow herons, which stalked sedately through 
