Evening star., 1934-07-22

one clear evening we drove him out
to his usual hideout. 1t was difficult
to find the location, and, as we searched,
we ran into herds of animals of all sizes.
They darted across our stream of light
and rushed headlong anywhere to get
away Finally. we located the kill and
Pete got out. On our return, Hugh Davis.
a naturalist to his fingertips was driv-
ing the car. The first animal to run
into our headlights was cat of some
kind Lets follow him." said Hugh,
and off we went, over rocks, into holes,
around trees. But the little cat at last
jumped away, only to have his place
taken by another and more curious
creature. This one was smaller and
hoped on his hind legs. Hugh's appe-
tite was whetted indeed. We've got to
get him." he said i've never known of
kangaroo in Africa"
Finally the creature stopped for a
second. Keep the headlights on him."
shouted Hugh and jumped out. In a
few breath taking moments he was ours.
1t turned out to be kangaroo rabbit,
which are quite rare, and made an In
teresting addition to Martins zoo.
A MOTHER afternoon, just after lunch,
when most of us were lying laZily
about camp, one of our black boys came
running into camp without stitch on,
and pale all over He had been bathing
only 100 yards from camp, and huge
black named lion had come down to
drink and interrupted his bath. The
boy didn't stop to argue: he left-and
without his clothes. Quickly, camp life
came to. We all grabbed rifles, jumped
into trucks and were off. BY the time
we reached the spot old Simba had gone
off, but his tracks were there to back
up the natives story.
The only animal really wanted par
ticularly, was a leopard, and they are
very rare Many early mornings and
late evenings we spent driving along
dongas, but they are smart, willy ami
mails, and we never saw one. At the
suggestion of Lieut.. Quesada, my hus-
band and I rugged up kill" and after
supper the three of us motored out to
take up watch. Soon We drove nearer
to the tree where our kill was hanging
and, to our surprise, under it sat some
specie of cat! ~We put the headlights
on him and argued what he was. Not
agreeing, we decided to draw closer.
The cat meanwhile jumped into the
tree and tried to pull down his evening
meal
Believing him to be a good specimen
IF 10
try for him We had only big guns
with us, and selecting the smallest of
the three, I aimed at the creature and
pulled the trigger! flash! and with
a bound the cat disappeared into the
night. The two men looked at me. My
pride was gone, but so was the cat!
We got out, walked about bit and
then crept in to sleep, but lay awake,
searching for an excuse for missing
such an easy shot. About am. we
were called for by Pete to take us back
to camp. While we dressed, he looked
around again to see if there was any
trace of the cat I had missed. l was
pulling on my boots when I heard
something between laugh and shout.
We hurried out, and there, lying at
Pete's feet, was a beautiful leopard.
We drove back to camp exulting over our
unexpected and precious trophy.
Our time in Tanganyika was over all
too soon. We hated to leave the herds
of wildbeeste, zebra gazelles impalla,
balloons and other animals that were
constantly entering our dwindling green
patch on the plains
Seven thousand miles ahead of us lay