CHAPTER XL 
ROOSEVELTS FIRST EXPERIENCE AS AN AFRICAN 
HUNTER. 
He Kills a Gnu or Wild Beast—Despatches Three Lions in One Day—Kermit Makes an Ex¬ 
pedition on His Own Hook—Smallpox Scare in the Camp—Other Thrilling Incidents. 
R OOSEVELT’S first night under canvas in Africa was spent in 
the camp set up for the expedition in the vicinity of the railroad 
station at Kapoto Plains. Nothing disturbed the stillness of the 
tropical night except the monotonous concert of the beasts of prey, chief 
among whom was the lion, whose awe-inspiring roar, like the rumble of 
a distant thunder, when slowly dying away in repeated echoes among 
the mountains, sent an exerting thrill through the mighty hunter’s heart. 
The next morning he arose in splendid spirits and spent the day 
assorting his baggage and outfit, while his son Kermit, with some other 
members of the party, went out to try their luck with the rifles and 
succeeded in bringing down one antelope. “Bully, bully,” exclaimed 
the ex-President with a face beaming from pleasure when the booty 
was laid at his feet. 
He forbade the members of the expedition to give out any reports 
as to his movements and allowed only one representative of an Eng¬ 
lish news agency and some American reporters to accompany him. This 
inspired the Nairobi newspapers to make a venomous attack on Roose¬ 
velt and the acting governor, and caused the British government to ask 
for an explanation from the local authorities. 
A fine weather favored Roosevelt’s first hunt, and he had many 
reasons to be 4 ‘ delighted, ’ ’ for he bagged two wildeDeests and one gazelle 
the first day. 
Next to the monkey, says an African traveler, I believe the gnu or 
wildebeest is the most inquisitive of all animals. A hunter often comes 
upon herds of twenty to fifty. As soon as they caught sight of us, he 
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