288 
African Game Trails 
when we halted for a day to rest the porters, 
Kermit and I would kill buck for the table 
—hartebeest, reedbuck, and oribi. I also 
killed a big red ground monkey, with ba- 
boon-like habits; we had first seen the 
species on the Uasin Gishu, and had tried 
in vain to get it, 
for it was wary, 
never sought 
safety in trees, 
and showed both 
speed and en¬ 
durance in run¬ 
ning. Kermit 
killed a bull and 
a cow roan an¬ 
telope. These 
so-called horse 
antelope are fine 
beasts, light roan 
in color, with 
high withers, 
rather short 
curved horns, 
huge ears, and 
bold face mark¬ 
ings. Usually we 
found them shy, 
but occasionally 
very tame. They 
are the most tru¬ 
culent and dan¬ 
gerous of all an¬ 
telope; this bull, 
when seemingly 
on the point of 
death, rose like a 
flash when Ker- 
mit approached Arab Sheikscame . from , 
and charged him to report on the 
full tilt; Kermit From a photograph I 
had to fire from 
the hip, luckily breaking the animal’s neck. 
At Gondokoro we met the boat which the 
Sirdar, Major General Sir Reginald Win¬ 
gate, had sent to take us down the Nile to 
Khartoum; for he, and all the Soudan 
officials—including especially Colonel Asser, 
Colonel Owen, Slatin Pasha, and Butler 
Bey—treated us with a courtesy for which 
I cannot too strongly express my apprecia¬ 
tion. In the boat we were to have met an 
old friend and fellow countryman, Leigh 
Hunt; to our great regret he could not 
meet us, but he insisted on treating us as 
his guests, and on our way down the Nile 
we felt as if we were on the most comfort¬ 
able kind of yachting trip; and everything 
was done for us by Captain Middleton, 
the Scotch engineer in charge. 
Nor was our debt only to British officials 
and to American friends. At Gondokoro 
I was met by-M. 
Ranquet, the 
Belgian Com¬ 
mandant of the 
Lado district, 
and both he and 
M. Massart, the 
Chef de Poste at 
Redjaf, were 
kindness itself, 
and aided us in 
every way. 
On the last day 
of February we 
started down the 
Nile, slipping 
easily along on 
the rapid cur¬ 
rent, which 
wound and 
twisted through 
stretches of reeds 
and marsh grass 
and papyrus. 
We halted at the 
attractive station 
of Lado for a 
good-by break¬ 
fast with our 
kind Belgian 
friends, and that 
evening we dined 
French trouble. at Mongalla with 
y Kermit Roosevelt. Colonel Owen, 
the Chief of the 
southernmost section of the Soudan. I 
was greatly interested in the Egyptian and 
Soudanese soldiers, and their service med¬ 
als. Many of these medals showed that 
their owners had been in a dozen cam¬ 
paigns; some of the native officers and 
men (and also the Reis or native cap¬ 
tain of our boat, by the way) had served 
in the battles which broke forever the 
Mahdi’s cruel power; two or three had 
been with Gordon. They were a fine- 
looking set; and their obvious self-respect 
was a good thing to see. That same after¬ 
noon I witnessed a native dance, and was 
