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

was force of habit acquired in the haunts Of
scornful men-and lying with my back against
O tree, played away blissfully until, cheered
and braced but sadly out of wind, turned and
glanced around. Behind me, crouching by
fallen log, appeared the head and listening ears
Of o baboon. short way of, others rallied
round.
As the music ceased, they turned to move
away. seized the instrument again and wrung
the strains Of Danny Deever'' from its stub
born vitals The balloons stopped: every one
Of them sat down and peered and turned his
head to catch the sound. There must have
been two dozen or more in the troop. and one
small babe-in-arms walled discordantly. It's
mother cuffed it soundly. 1t was as If human
child, dragged against its will to hear o noble
orchestra, had whimpered, and its mother
fearful of the masters righteous anger, had
spanked it to silence.
Such veneration was fattering to my soul
Salved and poulticed, as 1t were, by such
triumph, I blew and blew while hairy gallery
gods drank in the sounds It may have been
NO more than prying curiosity, but shall
always claim, in spite Of scientific testimony
and the envious SCOTS of non-musical natural
ists that tn. music itself was what held them
spellbound in sort Of baboon ecstasy
But my second wind gave out. I rang the
curtain down amid a storm Of banks that
doubtless in the baboon tongue, were loud de-
mandS for encores. The audience departed,
resolutions.
We moved camp up the Rahad to q place OF
big trees where the river made o wide bend.
There were many lions in that area. But they
were wild and wise. For three weeks hardly .
night passed without the deep organ tones of
their roaring. From l O'Clock in the morning
until they pounded the welkin with regularity.
They came to the river to drink every night
about 3, then trailed back into the high grass
and thornbush just before dawn. They knew
to minute when the light would be strong
enough to show front sight clearly. And in
daylight they simply were nome existent extinct.
NAY after day hunted them through the
thornbush-a game Of hide -and-seek with
0ut even the encouragement Of sight of one.
In that terrific heat such luck Is discouraging-
The days passed in endless succession.
And then one night, at that wttching hour
when graveyards yawn," awoke, like Abou
ben Adhem from deep dream OF peace. The
silence of the open forest had about it some
thing eerie. unearthly. No breeze stirred the
leaves on the thorntrees. No fish, no crocodile,
splashed in the oily waters Of the river No
nightbird called to break the unfathomable
stiffness.
An electric quality seemed to pervade the
silence of the outer darkness. had the feeling
that the world waiting for something. And
then-the rumble of lion perhaps q half-mile
deep grunts that shook the heavy atmosphere.
The roars swelled in volume, and then gradu-
ally died away and became almost inaudible.
At this point second lion took up the business
and carried it to new heights, until at the peak
Of his efforts it seemed to me that the very
leaves on the thorntrees must be shaken from
the branches
The two lions prowled for an hour along the
river bank, and royalty they drank at leisure
and boasted of hundred midnight kills. Then
sauntered slowly off, roaring as they went.
For time all was quiet. But an hour before
dawn voice warned all and sundry that
another emperor was striding regally to water.
This lion had the deepest voice of all.
Far away heard his coming, and in imagi-
nation could see that loose and careless swag-
ger, that slow and even tread so steady and
SO starkly confident. Every little while he
paused to speak in thunderous, awe-nspiring
tones.
At last he reached the river quite close to