Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-03

FOLLOWED three weeks OF Steauy ITtkkiLlS-
three weeks of heat thirst. thornbush,
ticks, flies, mosquitoes fever and of sun that
falls like a dead weight upon the shoulders.
Interminable marches along wide elephant
trails through 15-foOt grass. The unending
sway and lurch of that bull riding camel.
devoted little caravan" arrived at the Rahad
River about 10 miles from the AbysSinian Dor
Observation-Disclosures blue-penciled lion stall.
Here we made a permanent camp.
More weeks rolled by. Endless days in the
African bush will do strange things to the
imagination of lone hunter. In the absence
of white men with whom to exchange observa-
tions upon the small happenings of the day,
you turn for entertainment to the animals.
You come to know, after a while, that they
have distinctive personalities. You become
quite intimately acquainted with your smaller
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., monkeys, reed-buck, ortbi
and duiker-bush jewellers that seldom move
from one locality to another.
I remember with real affection a certain
duiker that afforded me entertainment for 10
days near camp. Although full grown, the
dainty antelope no taller than setter
dog. Each day about noon he came with his
family to drink at the river. The doe and
fawn always left him 200 yards from camp,
and, making a wide detour. arrived at the
river some distance away. But my friend, a
daring individualist, took keen delight in
Sneaking past no more than 40 yards to the
side He crept along with his back sunk low,
watching us out Of the corner of his eye like
a crafty fox Safely past, he Strengthened to
his full but diminutive height, and with tiny
head held high, looked back in triumph for q
moment And sometimes he added a derisive
snort, as il to say:
There told that panicky family of mine
I could do iti"
He had a great opinion of his own clever
ness did that duiker. But ON the tenth day
he failed TO appear. The doe and fawn, more
Inv md alort Ina hAf0
passed In o wide circle The added nervous
ness showed that they had been badly fright
ened
This looks gloomy for my friend" thought.
Perhaps he has tried his cleverness on the
wrong party"
One error and only one is allotted to each
member of the antelope family in Africa: The
first mistake is very apt to be fatal. was
worried. Later in the day went to look for
him A set of well cleaned duiker bones and
the pug marks of a leopard in the dust told
the story. My duiker friend had made his
mistake It was extremely poor headwork TO
attempt to sneak past that MATTED incarnation
of fury, the master sneak of them all. The
grim cat had caught and pulled him down.
felt that I had known that duiker init
mately and that common, everyday wilderness
tragedy took on an exaggerated seriousness In
my mind. I hunted that leopard with the
relentless determination of Old Man Nemesis
himself And at last got him-bushwhack
ana SnOC MIN DOWN. ana as the SpOtCto
derer lay gasping out his life in the grass. I
put another and entirely unnecessary bullet
through his heart-not in spirit of humanity
but with q vindictive jerk of the trigger that
was nothing but pure revenge. In the lone
someness T considered that duiker, with his
human weaknesses, member of the family.
ITO a man alone in the bush, balloons and
monkeys are a constant and never-failing
source of amusement On the opposite side of
the river, late every afternoon, troop of ba-
boons trekked past the camp Their habits
were as regular those of an old bachelor
cIub-man. Indeed, those balloons had their
own club in the deep shade of giant wild fig
tree that rose in a noble arch across the stream.
Promptly as trained commuters, that baboon
troop came foragng along the other bank one
afternoon. 1 heard their chatty, gay remarks
long before they came in view. First arrived
the scouts, five or six old males, marching
slowly and stopping and then to listen.