A FIRE 
397 
CH. XIV] 
the slender, black-legged, yellow-toed egret—on the 
rhinos, and the bodies and heads of both the cow and 
calf looked as though they had been splashed with 
streaks of whitewash. One of the egrets returned after 
the shooting and perched on the dead body of the calf. 
The heat was intense, and our gun-bearers at once 
began skinning the animals, lest they should spoil; and 
that afternoon Cuninghame and Heller came out from 
camp with tents, food, and water, and Heller cared for 
the skins on the spot, taking thirty-six hours for the job. 
The second night he was visited by a party of lions, 
which were after the rhinoceros meat, and came within 
fifteen feet of the tents. 
On the same night that Heller was visited by the 
lions we had to fight fire in the main camp. At noon 
we noticed two fires come toward us, and could soon 
hear their roaring. The tall, thick grass was like 
tinder; and if we let the fires reach camp we were 
certain to lose everything we had. So Loring, Mearns, 
Kermit, and I, who were in camp, got out the porters 
and cut a lane around our tents and goods; and then 
started a back fire, section after section, from the other 
side of this lane. We kept everyone ready, with 
branches and wet gunny-sacks, and lit each section in 
turn, so that we could readily beat out the flames at 
any point where they threatened. The air was still, 
and soon after nightfall our back fire had burnt fifty or 
a hundred yards away from camp, and the danger was 
practically over. 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. 
