African Camp Fires eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 275 pages of information about African Camp Fires.

African Camp Fires eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 275 pages of information about African Camp Fires.
us, less under the burden of responsibility.  We could make out the game as little, light-coloured dots and speckles, thousands upon thousands of them, thicker than cattle ever grazed on the open range, and as far as the eye could make them out, and then a glance through our glasses picked them up again for mile after mile.  Even the six-power could go no farther.  The imagination was left the vision of more leagues of wild animals even to the half-guessed azure mountains—­and beyond.  I had seen abundant game elsewhere in Africa, but nothing like the multitudes inhabiting the Kapiti Plains at that time of year.  In other seasons this locality is comparatively deserted.

The glass revealing nothing in our line, we rode again to the lower levels, and again took up our slow, painstaking search.

But although three days went by in this manner without our getting a glimpse of lions, they were far from being days lost.  Minor adventure filled our hours.  What elsewhere would be of major interest and strange and interesting experience met us at every turn.  The game, while abundant, was very shy.  This had nothing to do with distrust of hunters, but merely with the fact that it was the season of green grass.  We liked to come upon animals unexpectedly, to see them buck-jump and cavort.

Otherwise we rode in a moving space cleared of animals, the beasts unobtrusively giving way before us, and as unobtrusively closing in behind.  The sun flashed on the spears of savages travelling single file across the distance.  Often we stopped short to gaze upon a wild and tumbled horizon of storm that Gustave Dore might have drawn.

The dogs were always joyously routing out some beast, desirable from their point of view, and chasing it hopelessly about, to our great amusement.  Once they ran into a giant porcupine-about the size a setter would be, with shorter legs-which did not understand running away.  They came upon it in a dense thicket, and the ensuing row was unholy.  They managed to kill the porcupine among them, after which we plucked barbed quills from some very grieved dogs.  The quills were large enough to make excellent penholders.  The dogs also swore by all canine gods that they wouldn’t do a thing to a hyena, if only they could get hold of one.  They never got hold of one, for the hyena is a coward.  His skull and teeth, however, are as big and powerful as those of a lioness; so I do not know which was luckier in his avoidance of trouble—­he or the dogs.

Nor from the shooting standpoint did we lack for sport.  We had to shoot for our men, and we occasionally needed meat ourselves.  It was always interesting, when such necessities arose, to stalk the shy buck and do long-range rifle practice.  This shooting, however, was done only after the day’s hunt was over.  We had no desire to spoil our lion chances.

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African Camp Fires from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.