Part 17 (1/2)

A steep clih thorn and brush would always extricate us frole e became tired of it Then we found ourselves in a continuous but scattered growth of small trees Between the trunks of these we could see for a hundred yards or so before their numbers closed in the view Here was the favourite haunt of nulih the trees; or occasionally standing, gazing in our direction, their slender necks stretched high, their ears pointed for us These curious ones were generally the does

The bucks were either more cautious or less inquisitive A herd or so of eland also liked this covered country; and there were always a featerbuck and rhinoceroses about Often too we here encountered stragglers from the open plains-zebra or hartebeeste, very alert and suspicious in unaccustoreat deal of the plains country had been burned over; and a considerable area was still afire The low bright flarass in a narrow irregular band extending sometimes for miles Behind it was blackened soil, and above it rolled dense clouds of s and dashi+ng frantically in and out of the murk, often fairly at the flas of a certain worthy and sentimental person wastefrenziedly about above their destroyed nests As a e of a et insects cheap Thousands of the corass just in front of the advancing flames, or wheeled barely above the fire Grasshoppers were their h apparently they never objected to any small mammals or reptiles that came their way Far overhead wheeled a few thousand more assorted soarers who either had no appetite or had satisfied it

The utter indifference of the aniration always i wildly, nostrils distended, before the devouring ele quite peacefully with flames on three sides of therass; although at times and for a short distance it will leap to a wild and roaring life Beasts will then lope rapidly away to right or left, but without excitement

On these open plains ereto the grass blades; but with no invincible preference for that habitat; trousers did thes They ranged in size froe to big patterned fellows the size of a pea The little ones were much the most abundant At times I have had the front of my breeches so covered with thee to the surface of the cloth

This sounds like exaggeration, but it is a(new and valuable word) can then be done only by scraping with the back of a hunting knife

Some people, of tender skin, are driven nearly frantic by these pests

Others, of whoet off coenerally appoints one of the youngsters as ”tick toto” It is then his job in life to de-tick any person or do his services His is a busy existence But though at first the nuisance is excessive, one becomes accustomed to it in a remarkably short space of ti is nowhere better exeht he can re tick and cast it forth into the darkness without even waking up Fortunately ticks are local in distribution Often one may travel weeks or months without this infliction

I was always interested and impressed to observe how indifferent the wild aniiraffe seeood hosts The loathsome creatures fasten thes Thus in a tick country a zebra's ears, the lids and corners of his eyes, his nostrils and lips, the soft skin between his legs and body, and between his hind legs, and under his tail are always crusted with ticks as thick as they can cling One would think the drain on vitality would be enormous, but the animals are always plump and in condition The same state of affairs obtains with the other two beasts named The hartebeeste also carries ticks but not nearly in the same abundance; while such creatures as the waterbuck, iazelles and the smaller bucks seem either to be absolutely free from the pests, or to have a very few Whether this is because such animals take the trouble to rid themselves, or because they are more immune from attack it would be difficult to say I have found ticks clinging to the hair of lions, but never fastened to the flesh It is probable that they had been brushed off fro Perhaps ticks do not like lions, waterbuck, Torained common brutes like zebra and rhinos will stand them at all

XX DIVERS ADVENTURES ALONG THE TANA

Late one afternoon I shot a wart-hog in the tall grass The beast was an unusually fine specimen, so I instructed Fundi and the porters to take the head, and one not over a hundred yards when I was recalled by wild and agonized appeals of ”Bwana! bwana!” The long-legged Fundi was repeatedly leaping straight up in the air to an astonishi+ng height above the long grass, curling his legs up under hiine

Returning pro had coed in charging back and forth in an earnest effort to tusk Fundi, and the latter was juh in an equally earnest effort to keep out of the way Fortunately he proved agile enough to do so until I planted another bullet in the aggressor

These wart-hogs are le one views them They have a patriarchal, self-satisfied, suburban entleeously, and each and every member of the tribe walks about with short steps and a stuffy parvenu small-town self-sufficiency One is quite certain that it is only by accident that they have long tusks and live in Africa, instead of rubber-plants and self- within cohtest alarm this swollen and puffy importance breaks down completely Away they scurry, their tails held stiffly and straightly perpendicular, their short legs scrabbling the so faster than nature had intended theht at a reasonable distance, but keep on going over hill and dale, until they fairly vanish in the blue I used to like starting them off this way, just for the sake of contrast, and also for the sake of the delicious but i their hu is at home, he lives down a hole Of course it has to be a particularly large hole He turns around and backs down it No ined than the sardonically toothso slowly in the diood deal like Alice's Cheshi+re Cat Firing a revolver, preferably with smoky black powder, just in front of the hole annoys the wart-hog exceedingly Out he co so so

Once, many hundreds ofquite peaceably through the country, ere startled by the sound of a deep and continuous roaring in a small brush patch to our left We advanced cautiously to a prospective lion, only to discover that the roaring proceeded fro burrow The reverberation of our footsteps on the hollow ground had alar

On another occasion, when returning to cas before they saw me I made no attempt to conceal myself, but stood absolutely motionless They fed slowly nearer and nearer until at last they were not over twenty yards away When finally they nation and amazement and utter incredulity were very funny In fact, they did not believe in me at all for some few snorty ht

One afternoon F and I, hunting along one of the wide grass bottoht of a herd of an especially fine i about fifty yards the other side of a s bank of the slight depression that represented the dry strea it, coe Leaving the gunbearers, we proceeded to do this

So quietly did we move that e rose up back of the little bush a lioness lying under it with her cub was as surprised as ere!

Indeed, I do not think she knee were, for instead of attacking, she leaped out the other side the bush, uttering a startled snarl At once she whirled to come at us, but the brief respite had allowed us to recover our own scattered wits As she turned I caught her broadside through the heart Although this shot knocked her down, F immediately followed it with another for safety's sake We found that actually we had just li

We tried hard to find hie one, probably about as big as the feth, and three feet eight inches tail at the shoulder

Billy had her funny ti The kitchen depart at her Whenever she went to the cook-camp to deliver her orders she was surrounded by an attentive and respectful audience One day, after holding forth for so hobnailed on one of the boy's feet

”Why, Mahomet!” she cried ”That must hurt you! Why didn't you tell me?”