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LASSOING WILD ANIMALS 
 IN AFRICA 
 
COLONEL C. J. JONES (BUFFALO JONES) 
 
LASSOING WILD 
 ANIMALS IN AFRICA 
 
 BY 
 
 GUY H. SCULL 
 
 FIELD MANAGER OF THE BUFFALO JONES 
 AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 THEODORE ROOSEVELT 
 
 AND A FOREWORD BY 
 
 CHARLES S. BIRD 
 
 WITH THIRTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS 
 FROM PHOTOGRAPHS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 
 
 1911 
 

 Copyright, 1911, by 
 Frederick A. Stokes Company 
 
 May, 1911 
 
 THE . PLIMPTON • PRESS 
 
 [ W . D . O] 
 NORWOOD • MASS • U • 8 • A 
 
 C(.A28G958 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 '^HE expedition of Buffalo Jones to 
 Africa was noteworthy in every 
 way. The feats described by Mr, 
 Scull are true in every detail; and no 
 hunter with the rifle deserves the credit that 
 Mr. Jones and his two coivpuncher com- 
 rades, Messrs. Loveless and Means, de- 
 serve. Their feats in roping lion, rhino, 
 giraffe, and other animals were extraor- 
 dinary performances, and showed a cool 
 gallantry and prowess which should rejoice 
 the hearts of all men who have hnowfi the 
 West and who have felt that the old-style 
 plainsman, and his more modern repre- 
 sentative, the expert cowpuncher, are fit to 
 grapple with any emergency of wild life. 
 
 The expedition was singularly lucky 
 in having with it the accomplished nature 
 [v] 
 
Introduction 
 
 photographer, Mr, Kearton, to make per- 
 manent record of what occurred. For cool 
 courage and proficiency in his art there is 
 nothing to choose between Mr, Kearton 
 and any one of the men actively engaged 
 in the work of roping the dangerous wild 
 beasts hunted by the party. The writer of 
 the experiences, Mr, Scull, is a Harvard 
 man who was in my regiment; and it was 
 fortunate that there was with the party 
 some man who could record the experiences 
 with truthful accuracy. No hunting trip 
 more worthy of commemoration ever took 
 place in Africa, 
 
 Theodore Roosevelt. 
 
 February U. 1911, 
 
 [vi] 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction v 
 
 Foreword xi 
 
 PART I 
 
 Lassoing the Wart-hog, the Eland, the 
 Hartebeest, the Serval-cat and the 
 Cheetah 3 
 
 PART II 
 Lassoing the Giraffe and the Rhinoceros 49 
 
 PART III 
 Lassoing the Lion 93 
 
 [vii] 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Colonel C. J. Jones (Buffalo Jones). .Frontispiece 
 
 Facing Page 
 
 The Colonel and his two cowboys, Loveless 
 
 and Means 8 
 
 Triumphal procession through the main 
 
 street of Nairobi 16 
 
 The rope caught the wart-hog fairly around 
 
 the neck and forelegs 22 
 
 It was necessary to rope him again by the 
 
 heels 23 
 
 Before releasing the wart-hog we posed him 
 
 for his picture 26 
 
 The wart-hog nearly rips up the horse's legs 27 
 Driving the eland toward the cameras . . 30 
 The smell of the strange beast starts the 
 
 black horse bucking 32 
 
 With rope fast to saddle, the black careered 
 
 around the eland 33 
 
 Roping a hartebeest in the open .... 36 
 Roping a serval-cat — a difficult task as 
 
 this animal travels close to the ground . 40 
 
 "Dropped the noose over the cheetah's head 
 
 and dragged him out on to the open veldt " 44 
 The cheetah, in the noose, posing for his 
 
 photograph 45 
 
 [ix] 
 
List of Illustrations 
 
 Facing Pagh 
 
 The Colonel handling the cheetah ... 46 
 
 A zebra safely roped 50 
 
 "Loveless succeeded in placing the noose on 
 
 the high neck of the giraffe". ... 62 
 " Well, how are we going to take this rope off 
 
 him.?" 66 
 
 "With the roped leg he dragged the horse 
 
 after him" 70 
 
 The rhino about to charge Gobbet's camera 74 
 "One length of line left — the rest of the 
 
 ropes dangling, broken, from the rhino" . 78 
 "Step by step the horses dragged him to a 
 
 tree, where Loveless made the rope fast" 82 
 "From ant-hill to thorn- tree and back again 
 
 the fight went on" 86 
 
 "He charged again, feebly, but the ropes 
 
 held well and tripped him" .... 90 
 " All at once the lioness charged " . . .102 
 "Swinging and tossing about in frantic 
 
 endeavor to get loose" 108 
 
 Laying an extra line to make sure of her . 112 
 Her last struggle for freedom — trying to 
 
 cut the rope with her teeth . . . .116 
 
 "The rest was easy" 120 
 
 Bound and muzzled 124 
 
 Leaving her hunting-ground forever . . . 130 
 The lioness at home (Bronx Park, New 
 
 York) as "a souvenir of the trip" . . 134 
 [x] 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 THE expedition of which this is a 
 chronicle centers around the per- 
 sonahty of Col. C. J. Jones. It 
 was he who conceived the idea; his 
 boundless enthusiasm and optimism per- 
 suaded me that such an expedition was 
 practicable, and his determination, en- 
 ergy, and daring carried it to a successful 
 issue. Without, however, the skill and 
 courage of the two cowboys. Loveless and 
 Means, without the iron nerve of Kear- 
 ton, the photographer, and, above all, 
 without the patience, force, and grit of 
 Scull, the expedition might not have been 
 successful. Two years ago, when Colonel 
 Jones and I were camping on the Kaibab 
 Plateau on the northern rim of the Grand 
 Canon of Arizona, we were discussing 
 [xi] 
 
Foreword 
 
 big game hunting in British East Africa. 
 Jones was deploring the kilHng of wild 
 animals. Suddenly he turned to me 
 with the proposal that we both go to 
 Africa and with Western cow ponies 
 lasso and capture the big game of that 
 country. He realized, he said, that no 
 one would believe it possible, but for 
 that reason he was the more anxious to 
 show the world how easy it would be for 
 American coAvboys to rope and subdue 
 the fiercest and biggest game. 
 
 At the time the proposal seemed quix- 
 otic and, in spite of Jones's enthusiasm, 
 evident sincerity, and profound belief in 
 the eventual success of such an expedi- 
 tion, it was treated by the rest of us more 
 or less jocosely. Later, when I learned 
 to know Jones better, and understood his 
 courage, determination, and skill in the 
 face of danger, and his never-failing con- 
 fidence and alertness, as shown on our 
 [xii] 
 
Foreword 
 
 trip north of the Grand Canon, I began 
 to have faith in his abihty to do what he 
 proposed. 
 
 Impossible? That word does not fit 
 Jones. You cannot find it in his vocab- 
 ulary. When you understand him and 
 know what he has accomplished, you feel 
 confident that anything, however un- 
 usual, which he may undertake in the 
 animal world may be possible. Rightly 
 or wrongly he firmly beheves that all 
 wild animals, from the elephant down, 
 can be lassoed, captured, and subdued 
 by man if, as he expresses it, "one has 
 courage in his heart and determination 
 in his soul." 
 
 He is at his best in the plains, where 
 he is resourceful, daring, and confident, 
 almost reckless, in fact. Yet he under- 
 stands wild life so well that feats which 
 in another would appear foolhardy seem 
 to be easily and safely done by him. 
 [xiii] 
 
Foreword 
 
 For many years lie has devoted much 
 of his hfe to the study, preservation, and 
 propagation of animal life. Perhaps no 
 one has done more than he to preserve 
 the American buffalo, and most of the 
 remaining herds in this as well as in 
 other countries owe their existence to his 
 energy and work. Rightfully he is called 
 the "preserver of the American bison." 
 
 His trip twelve years ago, when he was 
 fifty-five years of age, to the far north, 
 with one companion only, to lasso and 
 capture young musk-oxen, was remark- 
 able and unique. Especially interesting 
 is the story of his adventures during 
 the long winter months in and around 
 the little cabin on Great Slave Lake 
 and his return home with the musk- 
 oxen. 
 
 In 1907 Ernest Thompson Seton fol- 
 lowed Jones's trail to that cabin and 
 found around it many skeletons of the 
 [xiv] 
 
Foreword 
 
 wolves with which Jones and his com- 
 panion had their fight. 
 
 It was my own observation of Jones, 
 however, that convinced me that his pro- 
 posed African trip might be successful. 
 I shall never forget his lassoing a 200- 
 pound cougar which our dogs had chased 
 up a big spruce tree a thousand feet down 
 the Colorado Canon. Jones climbed the 
 tree without gun or knife and faced the 
 ugly brute, which at times was not three 
 feet above his head. Deliberately and 
 coolly he threw the noose of the lariat over 
 the head of the animal, which was lash- 
 ing its tail and raising its ominous paw, 
 seemingly at any second about to strike 
 him, while in a quiet voice, alert and con- 
 fident, with no trace of fear, he carried on 
 an amusing and running talk with the 
 savage beast. When the cougar came 
 crashing through the limbs to the ground 
 amidst the dogs and men, with nothing to 
 [xv] 
 
Foreword 
 
 hold him save a half -inch rope around his 
 neck, more lively things happened in a 
 second than I could describe in an hour. 
 
 The cougar under most situations is a 
 coward, and a cougar hunt with dogs and 
 guns where the game is shot out of a tree 
 is a tame affair — not livelier than a deer 
 or a fox hunt, but to lasso and capture 
 a cougar at bay, fighting for his life 
 (an animal so powerful that when in 
 search of food he will often pull down 
 a horse), is a far different matter. It 
 is keen and dangerous sport, the result 
 always being in doubt from the time the 
 dogs give tongue until the game is roped, 
 tied, and muzzled. In such a hunt there 
 are no dull seconds. 
 
 I knew, of course, the chances were that 
 the African trip, absurd and impossible 
 as it seemed to be, might end in failure 
 and ridicule. Jones might be seriously 
 injured and the expedition wrecked. 
 [xvi] 
 
Foreword 
 
 "He is certain to be killed," a friend 
 said to me. 
 
 "Well," I replied, "what of it? He 
 is sixty -five years old, and I am sure 
 would far rather die fighting on the 
 plains than in his bed at home." 
 
 The expedition started on its long 
 journey, no one, save Jones, perhaps, 
 having much confidence in its success. 
 At last a cablegram came from Nairobi 
 announcing the lassoing and capture of 
 giraffes, cheetah, wart-hog, zebras, and 
 many other animals; and, best of all, it 
 told of a six-hours' fight and capture 
 of a large rhinoceros, and later, of the 
 lassoing and capture of a full-grown 
 lioness. We were disappointed that the 
 expedition did not have more time at its 
 disposal. Jones wanted to tackle an 
 elephant, which he thought would be 
 easier than a rhino. "An elephant," 
 he said, "stands high, while a rhino is 
 [ xvii ] 
 
Foreword 
 
 built low and is much harder to over- 
 turn." 
 
 However, the difficulty of finding game, 
 the coming of the rainy season, and the 
 fact that the expedition had lasted longer 
 than intended, made it unwise to continue 
 further. 
 
 I wish to acknowledge our indebtedness 
 to Mr. Arthur A. Fowler for his assist- 
 ance in outfitting the expedition in 
 London and Nairobi, and to the pho- 
 tographer. Cherry Kearton, of London, 
 expert operator of the cinematographic 
 machine, which recorded in thousands 
 of film-feet the story of the trip. It is 
 difficult to exaggerate the skill and nerve 
 required to take a moving picture in the 
 midst of a rhino or lion fight, especially 
 as so many conditions of light, atmos- 
 phere, and position must be almost per- 
 fect in order to get any picture at all. 
 
 Our debt is great, also, to Guy H. 
 [ xviii ] 
 
Foreword 
 
 Scull, field manager and the writer of 
 this book, who accompanied the expedi- 
 tion purely because of his love of clean 
 and original sport, and whose patience, 
 common sense, and courage helped much 
 to carry the expedition to a successful 
 finish. 
 
 Charles S. Bird. 
 
 March 1, 1911. 
 
 [xix] 
 
PART ONE 
 
LASSOING WILD ANIMALS 
 IN AFRICA 
 
 PART ONE 
 
 IT was a special train — loaded to 
 capacity with horses and dogs, 
 camp baggage, moving-picture cam- 
 eras, cowboys, photographers, and por- 
 ters; and when it pulled out of the 
 Nairobi station on the way to the "up 
 country" of British East Africa, the 
 period of preparation passed away and 
 [3] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 the time of action began. As the faces 
 of the people on the platform glided by 
 the window of the slowly moving car- 
 riage there was good-will written on all 
 of them; but also unbelief. There was 
 no doubt as to what they thought of 
 Buffalo Jones's expedition that was set- 
 ting out to rope and tie and photograph 
 the wild animals of the East African 
 Veldt. 
 
 '*How are you going to hold a rhino 
 that weighs two tons and a half.^" 
 
 "What are you going to do when the 
 lion charges.^" 
 
 Such were the questions asked us by 
 the hunters of the country. They fur- 
 ther took pains to explain that a rhino 
 charges like a flash, and that a lion can 
 catch a horse within a hundred yards. 
 
 These items of information, however, 
 were well known to Buffalo Jones before 
 the expedition was organized in New 
 [4] 
 
In Africa 
 
 York, and his preparations to meet the 
 difficulties had been made accordingly. 
 
 Colonel C. J. Jones is tall and spare, 
 with a strong, rugged face and keen blue 
 eyes. During his sixty -five years of life 
 he has roped and tied, often single- 
 handed, every kind of wild animal of 
 consequence to be found in our western 
 country, and his experience with these 
 has led him to believe implicitly that 
 man is the master of all wild beasts. 
 
 He has climbed trees after mountain- 
 lions, and with a lasso over a branch has 
 hauled grizzlies up into the air by one 
 hind leg. And once he set out alone to 
 journey over a country that no white 
 man had ever traveled before, to reach 
 the land of the musk-ox on the border of 
 the Arctic Circle. The story is told of 
 how he met a trapper on the way, and 
 how these two, in the face of the hostil- 
 ity of all the Indian tribes, the wolves, 
 [5] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 and the cold of the northern winter, 
 eventually came to the musk-ox and 
 captured five calves. Then, deserted by 
 their Indian guide, they started to re- 
 turn with their prizes, got lost in the 
 wilderness, and fought the wolves till 
 their cartridges ran out. And when at 
 last they reached safety and fell asleep, 
 exhausted, the Indians, obeying the laws 
 of their religion, stole upon them in the 
 night and killed the calves. 
 
 But the success he had achieved with 
 the mountain lions of the Southwest, the 
 musk-ox of the North, and the grizzly 
 bears of the Rockies was not enough. 
 For twenty years it had been the one 
 ambition of his life to take an outfit 
 to British East Africa to try his hand 
 with the more ferocious big game of 
 that country. But in his Western expe- 
 rience Colonel Jones had learned some- 
 thing else besides the mastery of man 
 [6] 
 
In Africa 
 
 over beast. Precisely how an American 
 cowboy was going to hold a rhinoceros 
 that weighed two tons and a hjalf was 
 purely a matter of speculation. Yet of 
 one thing the Colonel was certain — the 
 experiment would result in a moving 
 picture that would be well worth the 
 taking. For this reason what afterward 
 came to be known as the *' picture de- 
 partment " was added to the make-up 
 of the expedition. 
 
 The preparations extended over a con- 
 siderable length of time and were carried 
 on in various places. Unquestionably 
 the most important part of the outfit 
 was the horses. It was absolutely es- 
 sential that they should be Western cow- 
 ponies, fast, well trained, and reliable 
 in every way. The Colonel, who best 
 of all could foresee the nature of the work 
 they would have to do, selected them 
 himself, ten in all, from the ranches of 
 [7] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 New Mexico, and shipped them to New 
 York. The American dogs to be used 
 for traihng were Hkewise chosen by the 
 Colonel. Some of them belonged to him 
 personally, and had been thoroughly 
 tried out- The rest had reputations of 
 their own. Of the two cowboys who 
 were to act as his assistants, Marshall 
 Loveless had worked with the Colonel 
 before and knew his methods, and Am- 
 brose Means came highly recommended 
 for skill and daring from one of the lar- 
 gest ranch owners in the West. 
 
 When, at the last moment, the writer 
 of these articles was introduced to the 
 expedition in the capacity of acting field 
 manager, the preparations were well 
 under way. The horses and dogs had 
 been already shipped, en route to Africa, 
 in charge of the cowboys, and the date 
 of our sailing for London had been fixed 
 for the following day. 
 [8] 
 
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In Africa 
 
 The meeting was held at a luncheon in 
 the Railroad Club, in New York. There 
 were present Colonel Jones, Mr. F. W. 
 Bird, son of Charles S. Bird, who fi- 
 nanced the expedition, Mr. W. G. Sewall, 
 of the Boma Trading Company of Nai- 
 robi, and myself. After certain matters 
 of business had been disposed of, the talk 
 at the luncheon table drifted to the prob- 
 abilities and possibilities of success; to 
 lions, rhinos, elands, and cheetahs; to 
 cowboys, horses, and dogs. But the 
 Colonel would hear of no possibilities, 
 or even probabilities, of failure. He was 
 peculiarly insistent upon this point. And 
 when the hour of the business man's 
 lunch time came to an end, and the room 
 began to empty, Mr. Sewall said to me 
 across the corner of the table: 
 
 '*0f course, every one in Nairobi will 
 think all of you either fakers or crazy. 
 I know you're no fakers. I don't know 
 [9] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 whether you're crazy or not. But there 
 is one thing in your favor: The Colonel's 
 unshaken belief that the thing can be 
 done will probably pull it through." 
 
 On our arrival in London, about the 
 middle of January of this year, the work 
 of preparation was continued at once. 
 Outside of the minor details of the out- 
 fit, such as personal equipment, saddlery, 
 medicines, bandages, and so forth, the 
 first matter to receive attention was the 
 organization of the picture department. 
 Mr. Cherry Kearton was sought to take 
 charge of this branch of the expedition. 
 Kearton — a powerfully built York- 
 shireman — is an experienced cinemato- 
 graph photographer and a naturalist of 
 no small reputation. He had taken mov- 
 :ig pictures in Africa before, and so he 
 knew the climatic conditions there — the 
 heat radiation and the different intensities 
 of light. He also knew the animals the 
 [10] 
 
In Africa 
 
 Colonel was going to rope. But besides 
 being a cinematograph expert and a 
 naturalist, he was also a sportsman. 
 
 When Kearton learned of the nature of 
 the undertaking, he was skeptical. He 
 had no more than a slight acquaintance 
 with the Colonel then, and only a vague 
 hearsay knowledge of what the American 
 cowboy could do. Evidently his mind 
 was divided by the dictates of common 
 sense and the sporting instinct. On 
 many occasions during this time he 
 questioned the feasibility of the experi- 
 ment in the light of what he knew of 
 the African beasts. The agreement, in 
 documentary form, was spread out on the 
 table in the Boma Trading Company's 
 London office when he finally wanted to 
 know how in Heaven's name we thought 
 this thing could be done. 
 
 "We'll do it," the Colonel said quietly. 
 That was all. 
 
 [11] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 "Well, there's a picture in it, any 
 way," said Kearton, and signed the 
 papers. 
 
 With his assistant, David Gobbet, 
 two cinematograph machines and tri- 
 pods, hand cameras and developing ap- 
 paratus, he set sail immediately for 
 Africa, leaving an order for thirty thou- 
 sand feet of film to be divided between 
 two manufacturers and to be forwarded 
 as soon as possible. 
 
 In the meantime Colonel Jones was 
 hard at work collecting a rather unusual 
 assortment of articles. The experience 
 of a lifetime enabled him to foresee what 
 kind of materials were absolutely neces- 
 sary and what kind might prove useful 
 on the present expedition. Naturally 
 the articles required were not usually 
 in stock, but the London shopkeeper is 
 proverbially obliging and imperturbable. 
 
 One rainy morning the Colonel walked 
 [12] 
 
In Africa 
 
 into a hardware store and asked to see 
 some handcuflFs. A pair was shown him. 
 
 "Not large enough," said the Colonel. 
 
 "How large would you want them, 
 sir?" 
 
 "Twice that size." 
 
 "May I ask for what purpose you 
 require them, sir.^" 
 
 "For lions," said the Colonel. 
 
 "Precisely, handcuffs for lions; yes, 
 you need large ones. I am afraid I 
 have none in stock just now, but I can 
 have them made for you within a few 
 days." 
 
 It was the same with almost every- 
 thing the Colonel wanted to purchase; 
 everything had to be made especially 
 for him after his own description — 
 handcuffs, collars, and belts, chains, 
 branding-irons, a block and fall, muzzles 
 of different sizes, corkscrew picket-pins 
 for holding the turn of a rope, and a 
 [13] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 nondescript article shaped like a huge 
 pair of tongs, for which I feel sure there 
 is no name in any trade, but which 
 looked to be a handy implement for 
 clamping the jaws of a beast. To have 
 these things made according to specifica- 
 tions took time and an endless amount 
 of running about. Besides, there was 
 the more ordinary part of the equip- 
 ment to procure: English dogs, both 
 fox-hounds and terriers, horse-blankets, 
 extra ropes, horseshoes, and so on. 
 When the last of the expedition sailed 
 from Southampton there were forty- 
 eight pieces of baggage on the list. 
 
 This last contingent reached Nairobi 
 at noon on March 3, and for the first 
 time then all the members of the expedi- 
 tion met together. Loveless proved to 
 be a man a little below the medium 
 height; he held himself very erect, walked 
 with quick, energetic steps, and wore a 
 [14] 
 
In Africa 
 
 blond mustache. He made polite in- 
 quiries as to our voyage out, commented 
 on the hot weather, and fully explained 
 the condition of the horses and dogs. 
 Means was taller. He carried his head 
 slightly forward and wore his black 
 hair brushed low down over his forehead. 
 He stood slumped on one hip, so that 
 one shoulder also was lower than the 
 other. 
 
 "Please' to meet you," he said. 
 
 On our arrival at Nairobi the first 
 matter to be decided was the district 
 to be worked. The choice lay between 
 the Sotik and the Kapeti Plains. Ac- 
 cording to the usual batch of contra- 
 dictory stories in such cases, the game 
 was said to be equally plentiful, or 
 equally scarce, in both districts. Both 
 had been shot over considerably of late, 
 and, anyhow, no one could really tell us 
 where the most game was to be found; 
 [15] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 because, as one informant explained, the 
 game everywhere shifted so frequently 
 and so fast. But the Sotik and the 
 country approaching it — the Kedong 
 and Rift valleys, and the Mau — were 
 reported to be more or less free from 
 ticks, and, as the health of the horses 
 was of the gravest importance to us, we 
 determined to work this district first. 
 
 The Colonel and his two cowboys, 
 Loveless and Means, were ready to start 
 at once. Eight out of the ten horses 
 were in fine condition. With but one 
 exception, the dogs had come through 
 safely though all were suffering somewhat 
 from distemper. It was concluded, how- 
 ever, that they would recover just as 
 rapidly in the open country as they 
 would in Nairobi. 
 
 Kearton and Gobbet were ready. 
 Kearton had built a dark room in Nai- 
 robi, because his earlier experience had 
 [16] 
 
In Africa 
 
 taught him that the pictures could not 
 be developed with any degree of satis- 
 faction in the field. His four special 
 porters to carry the cameras and tri- 
 pods — porters he had trained on pre- 
 vious safaris — were only waiting for 
 the word to move. Mr. Ray Ulyate, 
 the white hunter to the expedition, had 
 already gone to Kijabe to prepare his 
 ox-wagons against our coming, and the 
 Boma Trading Company had engaged a 
 special train to leave Nairobi on the 
 fifth. 
 
 On the morning of that day we held 
 the customary procession of an outgoing 
 safari down the main street of Nairobi 
 to the waiting train. The Colonel rode 
 first, with the assorted pack of dogs at 
 his horse's heels. Then came the cow- 
 boys with the led horses; then the pic- 
 ture department; then the long single 
 line of black porters, bringing up the 
 [17] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 rear. Above the loads on the porters' 
 heads two flags flashed their colors in 
 the sunlight — the stars and stripes, and 
 the house flag of the company, with the 
 white buffalo skull against the red back- 
 ground, and underneath the motto. Sa- 
 piens qui vigilat. 
 
 The night had already fallen black and 
 cold when the special train crested the 
 top of the divide and coasted down grade 
 into Kijabe. The most imposing struc- 
 ture in the place is the railroad station, 
 with its red wooden building propped 
 up on piles, its tin guest-house alongside, 
 and the neat gravel platform growing a 
 clump of trees. The rest of JCijabe is 
 composed of four other houses, the goods- 
 shed, an open-faced Indian booth, the 
 post-ofl5ce, and the water-tank. Ulyate 
 met us with a lantern, for the station 
 lights are dim, and we detrained in the 
 face of the high wind that always blows 
 [18] 
 
— In Africa 
 
 there from sunset to dawn, and picketed 
 the horses among the trees of the sta- 
 tion platform. Because a large part of 
 the revenue of th^^ country is derived 
 from the visiting hunters, a safari is 
 accorded prii^ileges out of the ordinary. 
 So, as a matter of course, we took pos- 
 session of the station and camped in the 
 tin guest-house for the night. 
 
 The morning came clear and hot and 
 still. The railroad at Kijabe runs along 
 the face of the hills, so that the land drops 
 down abruptly to the plains below, and 
 you can look away for miles over the 
 Kedong and Rift valleys, with the two 
 sentinel extinct volcanoes rising black 
 against the heat-blurred sky. 
 
 The floors of the valleys are laid with 
 volcanic ash. But on first appearances 
 the land looks much the same as the reg- 
 ulation veldt or certain parts of our own 
 Western plains. It is only by the fine- 
 [19] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 ness of the dust that hangs about the 
 horses' feet, and the pecuUar quality 
 of the thirst that dries in the throat, 
 that you know this is no ordinary soil. 
 
 The sun was high in the heavens 
 before we finally started from Kijabe 
 and descended the rough road to the 
 level ground, with the brakes on the ox- 
 wagons squealing harshly and the horses 
 treading silently in the dust. 
 
 We had planned to camp at Sewell's 
 Farm that night. It was only about 
 four hours away, but a short trek the 
 first day is always a good rule to follow. 
 It gives every one a chance, so to speak, 
 to shake down well into the saddle. 
 We had gone but a short distance, how- 
 ever, when one thing became strikingly 
 apparent: Gobbet did not know how to 
 ride! He was mounted on a white 
 African pony that we had found it 
 necessary to add to our string. The 
 [201 
 
In Africa 
 
 pony was stolid, lazy, and easy-gaited, 
 but Gobbet's unfamiliar attitude toward 
 his mount was unmistakable. 
 
 Now it is a delicate matter in any 
 country to broach the question of a 
 man's horsemanship, but presently Gob- 
 bet introduced the subject of his own 
 accord. 
 
 "Of course I can't ride a horse," he 
 said. "Have never been on one before. 
 When Mr. Kearton spoke to me about 
 coming out here with him, he just asked 
 me if I could ride, and I told him surely 
 I could ride — but I didn't tell him I 
 meant a bicycle." 
 
 After all, the matter was of no great 
 importance. Gobbet was young and 
 thin and active, with sharp black eyes, 
 and the work that lay ahead of us would 
 probably teach him to ride in short 
 order — and it did. 
 
 We had little expectation of finding 
 [21] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 either a lion or a rhino on that first day's 
 trip. We were traveling on a regular 
 road, making a kind of initial march. 
 The fringe of scrub at the beginning of 
 the valley had been left behind some 
 three or four miles when Ulyate sud- 
 denly reined in his horse and pointed 
 to three black dots on the veldt about 
 half a mile away. 
 
 The black dots proved to be only 
 wart-hogs, but we wanted them, and, so 
 long as there was little chance of our 
 finding any of the more important spe- 
 cies of game, we took the opportunity 
 that offered. The Colonel and the two 
 cowboys tightened their cinches and then 
 rode out to the westward to round up 
 the beasts. 
 
 "Drive 'em back to us," Kearton 
 called after them, and Means waved his 
 hand by way of answer. 
 
 Behind us the line of porters was 
 [22] 
 
In Africa 
 
 coining up along the road. They were 
 straggKng badly, broken up into little 
 sections of threes and fours, so that 
 the last of them were not yet in sight. 
 Gobbet was sent back to hurry forward 
 the four special porters with the cameras, 
 and when these iSnally arrived upon the 
 scene, their faces covered with dust and 
 sweat, the horsemen had dwindled to 
 dots only a little larger than the hogs 
 themselves. 
 
 Kearton placed the cameras a few 
 yards apart, and there we waited, watch- 
 ing the distant specks. 
 
 Two of the riders disappeared into a 
 far patch of scrub. The third, began 
 swinging to the southward. His horse 
 was galloping after something we could 
 not see. 
 
 In the meantime the safari was com- 
 ing up, and as each section arrived it 
 was halted, and the porters put down 
 [23] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 their loads and sat on them. Some of 
 them turned their backs upon the scene 
 in total indifference as to what was com- 
 ing next; others regarded the cameras 
 with expressions of mild curiosity. 
 
 Little by little the third horseman 
 had swung round so that he was headed 
 due east, riding straight at us. Rapidly 
 the speck grew larger, and the two other 
 riders came out of the scrub and joined 
 the chase. 
 
 Nearer and nearer they came, with 
 the dust cloud swirling behind them. 
 Gobbet began turning the handle of his 
 camera, and the whir of the machine 
 sounded loud in the stillness. One or 
 two of the porters jumped to their feet 
 and pointed. Kearton waited. 
 
 "I hope they won't come straight into 
 
 the lens," he said. "If they do, it won't 
 
 make a good picture. They ought to 
 
 come at an angle. So," he explained, 
 
 [M] 
 
In Africa 
 
 placing his hand obliquely to the line of 
 focus. Then he bent over, laid his eye 
 to the gun-sight of the machine, and 
 likewise began turning. 
 
 The thunder of the chase could be 
 heard now, and we could see that it was 
 Loveless leading, on his black, with 
 Means and the Colonel close behind and 
 the wart-hog some forty yards ahead. 
 The beast was running strong. His huge 
 snout was thrust forward, and his up- 
 turned tusks gleamed in the sunlight. 
 But gradually the black horse gained on 
 him, and Loveless loosened the rope 
 from his saddle and began swinging the 
 long noose round and round his head. 
 
 On came the wart-hog, straight for 
 Kearton's camera. 
 
 Kearton straightened up above the 
 machine and waved his helmet fran- 
 tically. 
 
 "Give over, give over!" he shouted. 
 [25] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 '* You're driving him right into the pic- 
 ture. It's no good. Give over!" 
 
 The chase never swerved an inch, and 
 Kearton bent to his work again, cursing 
 in well-selected periods. 
 
 The next moment the hog drove past 
 him. At the same instant Loveless 
 threw his rope and caught the beast 
 by one hind leg. The black horse 
 stopped, fore feet planted firmly, and 
 the dust cloud swept across and hid the 
 scene. 
 
 When the dust cleared away, the hog 
 was lying across the road, blowing com- 
 fortably, with the rope leading from his 
 hind leg to the horn of Loveless's saddle. 
 Loveless laughed. 
 
 "There's the first one for you," he said. 
 "'And my, can't he run!" 
 
 Gobbet, however, was indignant. "It's 
 no use," he complained. "To bring an 
 object that way straight into the lens is 
 [26] 
 
In Africa 
 
 against the first principles of cinematog- 
 raphy. It's no use, I tell you." 
 
 Means sat half slumped in his saddle, 
 with his reeking horse panting heavily. 
 
 "Well, well, well," he finally drawled. 
 "And didn't Mr. Pig come a-bending 
 across that prairie? He most certainly 
 come a-bending." 
 
 The porters gathered around and 
 looked long at the beast; some of them 
 spoke a few words in low tones, and the 
 others nodded their heads and smiled. 
 
 Sometimes a wart-hog will act nasty, 
 and his lower tusks are sharp as razors; 
 but when this one was released he walked 
 out of the circle of grinning natives, 
 slowly, quietly, and apparently thor- 
 oughly disgusted. 
 
 At Sewell's Farm there is a pan of 
 
 water made by a dam across an almost 
 
 waterless brook, and alongside of this pan 
 
 we pitched our camp. When the sun 
 
 [271 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 set, the high wind rose again, whirHng up 
 the dust in heavy clouds and sending the 
 sparks from the fire scurrying over the 
 ground. But the Kedong Valley wind is 
 more or less a phenomenon of the coun- 
 try. You can count upon it absolutely 
 for every one of its disagreeable quali- 
 ties. I think the citizens of Africa are a 
 little proud of it. 
 
 There was now a fair chance that on 
 our way into the Rift Valley we should 
 flush one or another of the larger animals. 
 Preparations for such a contingency 
 were accordingly made before starting 
 from Sewell's Farm. Canteens and iron 
 drums were filled with water, because 
 the next camp would be a dry one. 
 The cinematograph, cameras, and all 
 the extra boxes had been loaded with 
 films the evening before, and the four 
 special camera porters were given strict 
 orders to keep well up with the advance 
 [28] 
 
I n Afric a 
 
 of the safari. The hon-taming outfit — ■ 
 the tongs, muzzles, chains, and collars 
 — was stowed on the first wagon, on 
 top of the load, where it could be got at 
 readily in case of need. The Colonel 
 rode ahead, with the two cowboys close 
 behind, all three ropers mounted on their 
 best horses — the Colonel on "the paint," 
 Loveless on his black, and Means on the 
 big-boned bay. Every member of the 
 party was especially cautioned to keep 
 a sharp lookout on both sides of the 
 road. 
 
 Just as the day before, the morning 
 came hot and still, and for hour after 
 hour the straggling safari crawled slowly 
 over the long waves of the undulating 
 veldt. The road was a wagon track 
 always vanishing in front toward the 
 head of the valley. The land lay silent 
 beneath the glaring sunlight. 
 
 We outspanned at noon for an hour. 
 [29] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 Over the country here grew small, scat- 
 tered thorn trees, thick with thorns but 
 with scarcely any leaves, so that the 
 shade beneath them was thin and could 
 shelter no more than one horse. The 
 water in the canteens, cold at the start, 
 had become warm now. 
 
 When we mounted again, the sweat 
 had dried on the horses, and the boots 
 felt stiff on our feet. The line of the 
 road still stretched away its intermina- 
 ble length until it disappeared in the 
 distance. 
 
 And then, as we crawled sleepily 
 ahead over the rises, the Colonel was the 
 first to notice the lion spoor in the dust. 
 
 With sudden animation the safari 
 awoke from the lethargy of the hot, 
 monotonous march. The spoor was 
 judged to i)e at least four hours old, so 
 there was no use putting the dogs on it. 
 Then presently it disappeared. On the 
 [30] 
 
In Africa 
 
 dead grass of the bordering veldt there 
 was nothing to show which way the Hon 
 had gone. But there was a chance — 
 a small one, yet still a chance — that the 
 beast was lying up near by in the shade 
 of a thorn tree. So all the horsemen 
 spread out over the veldt to obtain a 
 wider scope of vision, and for mile after 
 mile the company moved forward, sweep- 
 ing the immediate country. 
 
 Proceeding in this manner through 
 the afternoon, we eventually crested a 
 slightly higher rise and looked down 
 into a shallow valley that was greener 
 than the rest of the veldt. A few full- 
 sized trees were growing in the bottom, 
 and there were a number of outcroppings 
 of rock. Large herds of antelope were 
 grazing there. 
 
 The Colonel called a halt. 
 
 "There is no lion anywhere here- 
 abouts," he said, "because the game are 
 [31] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 grazing peacefully. But there is a bunch 
 of eland yonder. We might as well round 
 them up while the light lasts." 
 
 The plan of operation was quickly 
 made. The cameras were stationed 
 about a mile to the southeast, partly 
 concealed by the bole of a tree, and the 
 bunch of eland were skilfully rounded 
 up and a good specimen was singled out. 
 
 Everything was working to perfection. 
 The three horsemen drove the eland 
 toward the cameras — not directly at 
 them, but a little to one side, at an 
 angle, as Kearton wanted it done. At 
 the proper moment Loveless roped the 
 animal by the forelegs and neck, and 
 threw it down. Loveless jumped from 
 his horse and w^as running forward to tie 
 the prize when something — the smell 
 of the strange beast, perhaps — started 
 the black horse bucking. With the rope 
 made fast to the saddle and the eland 
 [32] 
 
In Africa 
 
 acting as a pivot, the black went career- 
 ing round and round. Both the Colonel 
 and Means tried to rope him, and missed, 
 and finally Loveless, on foot, caught him 
 by the dangling reins. 
 
 Of course such a thing might have 
 been readily foreseen, but somehow it 
 came as a surprise and opened up grave 
 possibilities. That night in camp at 
 "Rugged Rocks" we were gathered about 
 the cook's fire for the warmth it gave, 
 when the Colonel spoke of the affair. 
 
 "Everything was going great till that 
 horse started bucking," the Colonel re- 
 marked. "We've got to teach our horses 
 not to mind the smell of these strange 
 animals out here. We've got to be able 
 to depend absolutely on our horses. Of 
 course that eland wasn't dangerous. 
 But when we tackle something else and 
 a horse acts that way, it might be bad." 
 
 But Gobbet said it was good action, 
 [33] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 anyway, and would look fine when thrown 
 on the screen. 
 
 March 8 was a day of disappoint- 
 ments. Between sunrise and sunset we 
 traveled fifteen miles to the Wangai 
 River and hunted in turn a pair of lions, 
 a cheetah, and a rhinoceros — and lost 
 them all. Two circumstances were held 
 accountable: one was the necessity of 
 getting the horses to water, and the other 
 was the fact that it was just a bad luck 
 day all through. 
 
 We came upon the lions early in the 
 morning, close to the base of the south- 
 ern volcano. This particular pair of 
 lions must have been shot over at one 
 time or another, for they did not wait 
 to satisfy any curiosity as to our inten- 
 tions, but fled at once for the safety of 
 the mountain. Although we gave chase 
 immediately, their lead was so great, 
 and the distance to the mountains so 
 [34] 
 
In Africa 
 
 short, that they were soon lost to us in 
 the guUies and crevices of the foothills. 
 
 It was while we were trying to pick 
 up the lost trail of the lions that we 
 flushed a cheetah out of one of the don- 
 gas.^ It broke away along the foothills, 
 and finally stopped at bay in a district 
 where the "going" was so bad for the 
 horses that we had to give up the attempt. 
 
 With the rhinoceros we had scarcely 
 any chance whatsoever. The Colonel, 
 who was scouting the country to the 
 northward of the line of march, caught 
 a glimpse of the beast in the adjacent 
 valley. By the time he had come back 
 to get us and we had ridden in pursuit, 
 the rhino had disappeared. 
 
 We found his trail leading still farther 
 to the northward, and dismounted and 
 looked down at it in silence. No com- 
 ments were made. No comments were 
 
 ^ Donga, a gully. 
 
 [35] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 necessary. Every one knew that for 
 lack of water the horses were too done 
 up to follow. 
 
 Means had dismounted a little to one 
 side of the group, and for a while he stood 
 there with his arms resting on his saddle, 
 gazing back over the way we had come. 
 Presently he remarked to the world at 
 large: ''Excitement has certainly been 
 runnin' high all day." We mounted 
 then; and, instead of hunting the rhino 
 farther, we rode the jaded horses slowly 
 into camp and put a proper finish to a 
 bad luck day by holding a consultation. 
 
 The Wangai River is no river at all; 
 merely a small spring in the shadow of 
 the range that crosses the head of the 
 valley. But the spring could supply 
 suflficient water for all our needs. Also, 
 the problem of transportation demanded 
 that Ulyate should return to Kijabe and 
 bring up another wagon with supplies 
 [36] 
 
In Africa 
 
 before the journey over the Mau into 
 the Sotik could be undertaken. Then, 
 too, here in the Rift Valley we had seen 
 both lion and rhino, and there was always 
 the chance of finding them again. The 
 consultation resulted in the decision to 
 make a permanent camp here and hunt 
 the neighboring country until Ulyate 
 should return. 
 
 For the succeeding three days the 
 Colonel laid out a plan of campaign; 
 simple, but effective, and limited only 
 by the necessity of keeping within rea- 
 sonable distance of the water. The plan 
 consisted of a series of drives; one in a 
 northeasterly, one in an easterly, and 
 one in a southeasterly direction. By 
 this means we would cover in turn all 
 territory at the head of the valley. 
 
 The Colonel was anxious to try again 
 for the rhino he had seen on the march 
 the day before, and for this reason the 
 [37] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 drive to the northeast was inaugurated 
 first. Every member of the expedition 
 took part in these drives. The Colonel 
 and the writer at one end, and the two 
 cowboys at the other, occupied the ex- 
 treme positions. Between the right and 
 left wings stretched a long line of por- 
 ters, under the command of two esearis, 
 and with Kearton and Gobbet in the 
 center with the cameras. The dogs on 
 leash and the saises carrying water for 
 the horses brought up the rear. When 
 finally formed, the line of the drive ex- 
 tended approximately five miles, and the 
 cameras and the dogs were so placed 
 that they could be brought to either end 
 of the line with the utmost despatch. 
 Two shots fired in quick succession 
 would be the signal to gather. 
 
 That first day's drive brought little 
 success. To begin with, we were late 
 in starting, so that the sun had already 
 [38] 
 
In Africa 
 
 risen before we moved out of camp; and 
 besides, the porters were new at that 
 kind of work and had to be halted and 
 reformed many times before they under- 
 stood what was wanted. 
 
 The land across which we were driv- 
 ing lay at the very edge of the valley, 
 and was consequently somewhat broken 
 into small hills and hollows. By the 
 time we came to the old rhino trail, the 
 day was well advanced. But no fresh 
 tracks were to be found up and down the 
 entire length of the hollow, nor was any- 
 thing to be seen of the beast from the 
 next hill to the northward, which we 
 climbed to search the country ahead. 
 There was only a large herd of harte- 
 beests grazing on the plains below. 
 
 The Colonel retreated half-way down 
 
 the hill and fired two shots from his 
 
 revolver. Somewhere beyond our range 
 
 of vision we heard the two shots repeated, 
 
 [39] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 and at the end of a little more than half 
 an hour all the members of the drive were 
 gathered on the hillside below the crest. 
 
 Then the Colonel explained the reason 
 for his signal. The rhino was not there. 
 We might still find him, and we might 
 not. The chances were now that we 
 should not. He had probably left the 
 country for good and was already miles 
 away. In the meanwhile a good oppor- 
 tunity offered for rounding up the herd 
 of hartebeests in the plain below and 
 driving them up the hillside to the 
 cameras. 
 
 On top of the hill was a small clearing, 
 the edges of which were fringed with 
 scrub. While the Colonel and the cow- 
 boys maneuvered to circle the herd, 
 Kearton placed the cameras in the clear- 
 ing, with the northern line of scrub as a 
 background for the intended picture. 
 
 For a long time there was silence. 
 [40] 
 
In Africa 
 
 Then suddenly the scrub sprang into 
 Hfe, and the next instant the herd dashed 
 into the clearing in a cloud of dust that 
 was pierced by a hundred startled eyes 
 and tossing horns. At the sight of the 
 cameras the herd broke and scattered 
 in every direction; but the horsemen, 
 pressing them close, roped one in the 
 open, and held him to have his picture 
 taken, and then let him go. 
 
 On the second drive, over the lowland 
 to the east, the porters worked better; 
 but, although we covered a far greater 
 territory, the total result was the roping 
 and photographing of a serval-cat that 
 we flushed on the way back to camp. 
 
 The third drive carried us well out 
 toward the southern volcano where we 
 had seen the lions on the march from 
 Rugged Rocks, but this time there was 
 no trace of them anywhere in the land. 
 Means, however, found a cheetah, and 
 [41] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 the two faint reports of his signal brought 
 us together on the run. 
 
 We came upon Means seated on his 
 horse in a bit of the veldt that was 
 covered all over with tufts of rank 
 grass, so that it looked like a swamp 
 that had been dry for ages. Near by 
 ran a small shallow donga. 
 
 When the rest of us rode up to him, 
 he merely pointed at one of the tufts 
 of grass behind which the cheetah lay 
 crouched. 
 
 There followed a brief delay, while a 
 plan of maneuver was made and ex- 
 pounded, while the tripods were set up, 
 the cameras screwed on, and the ropers 
 moved out to their appointed places. 
 
 Then all at once the cheetah started, 
 and, instead of breaking away, as we 
 had calculated he would, he doubled on 
 his tracks and made for the shelter of 
 the donga. It was a quick, sharp race 
 [42] 
 
In Africa 
 
 — and the cheetah won. He hid in the 
 scrub at the bottom of the ditch. The 
 native porters collected there and com- 
 placently regarded the scene, and the 
 members of the drive ranged themselves 
 on either bank and offered innumerable 
 suggestions as to what had better be 
 done next. 
 
 But in the midst of it all the Colonel 
 put an emphatic end to the discussion. 
 He rode into the donga with his rope 
 swinging free, and when the cheetah 
 failed to spring at him, he dropped the 
 noose over the animal's head, and 
 dragged him out on to the open veldt, 
 where his picture could be properly 
 taken. 
 
 The black porters looking on com- 
 menced speaking in low tones in their 
 native tongue, and nodded and grinned 
 at each other as they had done before. 
 But this time Mac was among them. 
 [43] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 Mac was Kearton's tent-boy. He orig- 
 inally came from Somaliland and spoke 
 English. He was called upon to explain 
 what the porters said. 
 
 "Please," he began. "They are very 
 bad men, these people, but don't be 
 sorry. They say — they say that, of 
 course, the white gentlemen are able to 
 do what they want to do, but just the 
 same they are all crazy." 
 
 That night we held our second con- 
 sultation. Ulyate had returned from 
 Kijabe with the extra wagon-load of 
 supplies, which placed us in a position 
 to move again immediately. The ques* 
 tion now arose as to whether it would 
 be best to remain where we were a few 
 days longer to gain more experience, or 
 to trek at once over the Mau, with a 
 chance at giraffe on the way, and so on 
 into the Sotik country, with its alluring 
 promises of both rhino and lion. 
 [44] 
 
In Africa 
 
 By this time we had hunted the Rift 
 Valley thoroughly. During the seven 
 days since we had left Kijabe, the expe- 
 dition had roped and photographed a 
 cheetah, a serval-cat, a hartebeest, an 
 eland, and a wart-hog. Although we had 
 been given no opportunity yet to find 
 out how we were going to hold a rhino 
 or what we would do when the lion 
 charged, still, in addition to our success 
 with the lesser animals, we had acquired 
 something else of value. All the mem- 
 bers of the expedition had learned to 
 work well together — in all the usual 
 emergencies each man knew what was 
 expected of him and could likewise make 
 a ready guess as to what the others 
 intended doing. Thus, in spite of the 
 fact that on an expedition of this kind it 
 is the unexpected that always happens, 
 our experience only added to our confi- 
 dence that when we eventually encoun- 
 [45] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 tered one of the larger beasts we should 
 get him. 
 
 The consultation ended with the unani- 
 mous decision to start for the Sotik at 
 dawn. 
 
 [46] 
 
PART TWO 
 
PART TWO 
 
 SOMEHOW everything seemed to 
 happen on moving day with the 
 Buffalo Jones Expedition in East 
 Africa. Exactly why this should have 
 been it is impossible to tell. Perhaps 
 the reason may be found in the fact 
 that a considerable part of our time 
 was occupied in moving. No doubt the 
 circumstance could be traced to some 
 such perfectly reasonable cause. But we 
 chose to look upon it otherwise. 
 
 When an outfit like ours has been work- 
 ing for a while in the open country — 
 especially when the undertaking has no 
 precedent and the outcome is decidedly 
 uncertain — the little happenings of each 
 day gradually grow to have a peculiar 
 significance of their own, and finally a 
 [49] 
 
L a cV .V i n g W i J d A n i m a I s 
 
 brand-new sot of superstitions is formed 
 and half-jokingly believed in by every 
 one concerned. In this way an expedi- 
 tion conies to be regarded as lucky or 
 unlucky, or lucky on certain days, or 
 at certain hours of the day, or at cer- 
 tain periods of the moon. The wide 
 reaches of the African veldt have some- 
 thing to do with it, perhaps. 
 
 These superstitions are temporary, 
 local, and often purely personal atfairs. 
 Means, being a cowboy, believed that 
 when he rode his big-boned bay the drive 
 would be successful. The native dogboy 
 insisted that when the long-eared blood- 
 hound and the little white terrier were 
 coupled together on the march, the rest 
 of the pack would come through without 
 mishap. Loveless swore by a particular 
 piece of rope, and ^lac — which is short 
 for Mohammed — discovered propitious 
 omens on every conceivable occasion, 
 f 50 1 
 
In Africa 
 
 It was on the first day's march into 
 the Kedong Valley that we had roped 
 the wart-hog. On the journey from 
 SewelFs Farm to Rugged Rocks we had 
 rounded up and photographed the eland. 
 Again, it was on the trek of March 8 to 
 the Wangai River that we had caught 
 our only glimpses of rhinoceros and lion 
 — faint chances of making a capture, but 
 still chances, and better than no signs at 
 all. 
 
 And thus, merely because it had 
 turned out so in the past, every mem- 
 ber of the expedition had come to enter- 
 tain a semi-serious belief that something 
 momentous was bound to happen on 
 moving day. 
 
 A general feeling of expectancy per- 
 vaded the entire safari when we broke 
 camp at the Wangai River at dawn of 
 a hazy morning. The sky was clear of 
 clouds, but behind the hills of the Mau 
 [51] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 escarpment a veldt fire had been burn- 
 ing for several days, so that a veil of 
 smoke was seen hanging in the air as 
 the dawn broadened into day. The 
 smell of the burning veldt and the 
 nearness of the fire lent an oppressive 
 warmth to the still morning. 
 
 "You two boys had better carry your 
 heavy ropes," the Colonel said at start- 
 ing. "We might meet something." 
 
 We had finished with the Kedong and 
 Rift valleys. We had hunted every cor- 
 ner of the district within striking distance 
 of the water. And we had had success of 
 a kind. Cheetah, eland, hartebeest, and 
 serval-cat we had roped and tied and 
 photographed. But the really big game 
 had so far escaped us. For this reason 
 we had decided to take the road over the 
 Mau, where the smoke haze hung heavy, 
 and so on into the Sotik country, where 
 both lion and rhino were said to abound. 
 [52] 
 
I n Africa 
 
 For the first ten miles of the march 
 our way led across untraveled country, 
 toward the two deep ruts in the veldt 
 that were known as the wagon road. 
 We had an extra ox-wagon with us now, 
 in charge of Mr. Curry, an Africander, 
 who lived with his partner on a farm on 
 the border of the Sotik, and who on his 
 return journey home with his wagon had 
 agreed to help us carry supplies. Curry 
 was slight and round-shouldered, with 
 light yellow hair. His face was burned 
 a bright red, excepting his nose, which 
 was white where the skin was peeling. 
 He had a peculiar, slow, drawling way of 
 talking — when he talked at all, which was 
 seldom. Being an inhabitant of the dis- 
 trict into which we were going, he was 
 naturally subjected at first to a number of 
 questions in regard to the big game there. 
 
 "Plenty of rhino in your part of the 
 world, I suppose?" 
 
 [53] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 "Y — as," drawled Curry. 
 
 "And lion, too, I imagine?" 
 
 "Y— as." 
 
 "Ought to get some giraffe on the 
 way, hadn't we?" 
 
 "Y— as." 
 
 "Rhino pretty scarce just now, though, 
 aren't they?" 
 
 "Y — as," Curry answered placidly. 
 
 Thus it soon became apparent that 
 Curry's chief ambition was to agree 
 pleasantly with whatever anybody said, 
 which tended to discredit any informa- 
 tion he had to impart. So, as a matter 
 of course, the questions ceased, and 
 when no more were asked him Curry's 
 conversation ceased also. 
 
 It was rough going for the ox-wagons 
 those first ten miles, and they made slow 
 time of it along the base of the hills. 
 According to our custom on the march 
 the Colonel and the two cowboys, the 
 [54] 
 
In Afric a 
 
 picture department (composed of Kear- 
 ton and Gobbet), and Ulyate (the white 
 hunter) and myself rode in a widely 
 extended line in front of the safari, 
 sweeping the country for game. It was 
 hot at the base of the hills — so hot 
 that when your bridle hand dropped 
 inadvertently to the pommel of the 
 saddle, the brass mounting there seemed 
 to burn you. Not a breath of air was 
 stirring, and the sun shone down blaz- 
 ing through the wisps of smoke haze, 
 and the heat waves rose from the dead, 
 parched veldt so that the distant south- 
 ern volcano looked all quivering. 
 
 Then from out the blurred vista in 
 front little by little a clump of compara- 
 tively large trees began to take definite 
 shape. Another half mile farther, and 
 we saw that something was moving 
 among the trees as high up as the top- 
 most branches. ^ 
 [55] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 ''Giraffe," said Ulyate, and no sooner 
 had he spoken the word than the great 
 towering animals wheeled and fled from 
 their shelter with that long-legged gallop 
 of theirs which looks so easy and slow, 
 but which carries them over the ground 
 as fast as a speedy horse can run. 
 
 The Colonel and the two cowboys set 
 off at a hand gallop in a vain attempt 
 to round them up and drive them back 
 to the cameras. The race was a hope- 
 less one for the horsemen from the start. 
 But, according to the general method of 
 operations adopted by the Colonel from 
 the very beginning, no chance of a cap- 
 ture, however slim it might appear, was 
 to remain untried so long as men and 
 horses could endure. 
 
 The two ruts of the wagon road led 
 close by the grove of trees, and when the 
 rest of us reached this spot and dis- 
 mounted to await results, the three 
 [56] 
 
I n Afr i c a 
 
 leading horsemen had disappeared long 
 ago into the scrub-grown country to the 
 south. 
 
 As noon approached, the heat became 
 more and more oppressive. The cam- 
 eras had been screwed to the tripods 
 and covered with our coats to protect 
 them from the sun. The horses grazed 
 near by. Mac was sent up one of the 
 trees to warn us of the approach of any- 
 thing hke a giraffe, and the rest of us 
 sat on the ground round the bole in the 
 small circle of thin shade and lazily 
 watched the black ants always crawling 
 and climbing and zigzagging back and 
 forth over the network of fallen twigs 
 and leaves. It was too hot to talk — it 
 was too hot to sleep or think. And by 
 and by the ox-wagons came up, and the 
 oxen brought the flies. For a time then 
 the only sounds were the slow crunching 
 of the feeding horses and an occasional 
 [57] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 inarticulate snarl from some one or other 
 who foolishly tried to brush the flies 
 away from his face. 
 
 Eventually, after a long time had 
 passed, Means rode into the grove of 
 trees, unheralded by Mac and alone. 
 The bay horse had fallen badly, wrench- 
 ing his rider's back where once he had 
 been hurt before. Means took his sad- 
 dle off, threw it on the ground, and sat 
 on it. 
 
 "He dropped into a pig hole," he 
 explained, ''an' hopped out again as 
 neat as could be. But in hoppin' out 
 he hopped into another, an' that just 
 naturally discouraged him an' he come 
 down with me." 
 
 No comments were made, nor did 
 Means expect any. But evidently he 
 had considered it only justice to the bay 
 that the mishap should receive from him 
 the proper explanation. 
 [58] 
 
In Africa 
 
 Then Loveless returned, also alone. 
 He made a few grumbling remarks about 
 its being all nonsense to run the horses 
 to death when there was no chance at 
 all. But as his listeners showed not the 
 slightest interest in the matter, he, too, 
 relapsed into silence. 
 
 The Colonel was the last to come in. 
 He rode straight to the tree where the 
 company were gathered, dismounted, and 
 sat down. Then he spoke to the world 
 at large. 
 
 "They must be about here some- 
 where," he said. " And being about 
 here somewhere, we'll get 'em yet." 
 
 When the shadow beneath the tree 
 began to lengthen toward the east, the 
 safari shook itself together and prepared 
 to move on once more. But this time, 
 instead of occupying his customary posi- 
 tion at the head of the column, the 
 Colonel lagged behind. 
 [59] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 Immediately after leaving the grove 
 of trees, the road commenced to climb 
 the first rises of the Mau escarpment. 
 As we mounted higher up the hillside, 
 the view behind us opened out into a 
 grand panorama of the two valleys and 
 their sentinel volcanoes, with the smoke 
 haze hanging over all. For a time, 
 those of us who were in front rode half 
 sideways in the saddle, looking back 
 over the way we had come and over the 
 district we had grown to know so well. 
 Then we crossed a small, level park that 
 formed the crest of the first hill, and as 
 we moved down the western slope the 
 view behind us disappeared and the new 
 country spread before us. 
 
 Kearton was riding with his head sunk 
 on his chest like a sick man. Gobbet 
 asked if anything was wrong with him. 
 
 *' Nothing bad; too much heat this 
 morning, likely." 
 
 [60] 
 
I n Afric a 
 
 "Want to hunt up a bit of shade and 
 lie up awhile?" 
 
 "No, I'll go on." 
 
 Gobbet shrugged his shoulders. 
 "You're the judge," he said. 
 
 Hill after hill stretched away in front 
 to the one upstanding kopje that marked 
 the top of the Mau. The district was 
 wooded with small, twisted trees, and 
 the fire had crossed here, so that the 
 ground was black and the air smelled 
 stronger of burning. 
 
 Presently Means stopped. "I'd bet- 
 ter wait till the Colonel comes along," 
 he explained. "The Colonel don't carry 
 any weapons." 
 
 Loveless stopped with him, and, as 
 Ulyate was somewhere behind with the 
 ox- wagons and porters, this left Kear- 
 ton. Gobbet, and myself to ride on by 
 ourselves. For a mile or more the road 
 lifted and dipped with monotonous reg- 
 [61] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 ularity, and the burnt land was still on 
 either hand, without a sign of life any- 
 where to be seen. So when the sun 
 really began to decline toward the west, 
 Gobbet, who had once been assistant 
 manager of the Alhambra Music Hall 
 in Brighton, told the story of Harry 
 Lauder and the liquid-air biscuits, and 
 it seemed to do Kearton good. Kearton 
 had just told Gobbet to quit his lying, 
 when all three of us realized that for the 
 last half minute we had been uncon- 
 sciously listening to the beat of a gallop- 
 ing horse on the road behind. 
 
 The next instant Ulyate pulled up in 
 a cloud of dust. 
 
 "Colonel wants you," he said. 
 "They've rounded up a giraffe." 
 
 We wheeled the horses and started 
 back on the run. 
 
 ' ' About — three — miles ! Left — of the 
 — road!" Ulyate shouted after us. 
 [62] 
 
In Africa 
 
 There were various reasons that called 
 for haste. How long the ropers could 
 keep the giraffe rounded up was espe- 
 cially uncertain, and then, besides, it 
 was near the end of the day and soon 
 the light would be too far gone for a 
 picture. 
 
 We met the line of porters and they 
 scattered right and left. Farther on, 
 the ox-teams crowded one side to give 
 us room. Then we came upon the four 
 special porters with the cameras. Kear- 
 ton took his machine on the saddle with 
 him, and Gobbet caught up the tripod 
 from another pair of outstretched arms. 
 
 When we reached the bit of clearing 
 and looked to the left of the road, we saw 
 the long neck and head of a giraffe 
 sharply outlined against the sky. 
 
 The giraffe stood motionless. His feet 
 were spread a little apart as though he 
 was prepared to dash away again at the 
 [63] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 first opportunity, and he gazed in a curi- 
 ous way first at one, then at another of 
 the three ropers that surrounded him 
 and now sat their horses, waiting. 
 There was still enough light left for a 
 picture, but Kearton was nearly done. 
 
 "Give him a minute's breather," said 
 the Colonel. "We'll hold the critter 
 till he's ready. 
 
 We took Kearton off his horse and 
 stretched him on the ground and poured 
 the lukewarm water from a canteen on 
 his head. Meanwhile Gobbet screwed 
 the camera to the tripod and set it up. 
 
 By the time Gobbet had finished, 
 Kearton was on his feet again. From 
 his position near by, Means ventured 
 the opinion that it was too much excite- 
 ment that had knocked him over, and 
 Kearton swore back at him pleasantly 
 and went to work. 
 
 A high-pitched yell from the Colonel 
 [64] 
 
In Africa 
 
 sent the giraffe away across the open 
 with that clumsy-looking, powerful gal- 
 lop that is all his own, and with his long 
 neck plunging slowly back and forth. 
 
 Loveless 's black, one of the fastest 
 horses in the string, had hard work to 
 gain on the giraffe, especially as the 
 animal swerved quickly at the last mo- 
 ment and fled down the eastern slope of 
 the hill through the scrub where the 
 going was none too good. 
 
 It was a difficult throw — and a new 
 one for a Western cowboy — to send the 
 noose so far up into the air over the head 
 perched high on the long, swaying neck. 
 
 But at the first attempt Loveless suc- 
 ceeded, and then reined in gently so as 
 not to throw the beast, because a giraffe 
 would fall heavily, and would very likely 
 break his neck or a leg if tumbled over. 
 
 Finally he was brought to a standstill, 
 his feet spread apart as before, and for a 
 [65] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 while the two stood facing each other 
 — the cowboy and the towering giraffe, 
 with the rope from the saddle horn lead- 
 ing up at a considerable angle to the 
 shoulders of the prize. The rest of 
 the hunt soon gathered about them. 
 Although the light was rapidly failing, 
 Kearton finished what was left of his 
 roll of film. The whir of the camera 
 ended with a peculiar flapping sound. 
 
 "That's all," said Kearton, and sank 
 down on a near-by stone. 
 
 But Loveless and the giraffe contin- 
 ued to face each other undisturbed. 
 
 "Well?" said Loveless, presently. 
 
 "Well?" echoed the Colonel. 
 
 "Well, how are we going to take this 
 rope off him? We've got none to spare, 
 you know." 
 
 "Get a ladder," suggested Means. 
 
 "No, we won't need a ladder," said 
 the Colonel seriously; "but we'll have 
 [66] 
 
I n Afric a 
 
 to throw him, after all. We can do it 
 gently, I guess, without hurting him." 
 
 Accordingly Means roped the giraffe 
 by one hind leg and pulled it out from 
 under him, so that he sank easily to 
 the ground and both the ropes were 
 loosened and freed. 
 
 The sun had set and the short twi- 
 light was rapidly deepening. The ox- 
 wagons and porters were several miles 
 ahead. So we packed up the camera, 
 coiled up the ropes, mounted, and rode 
 away, and the giraffe raised himself on 
 his haunches among the bushes and 
 watched us go. 
 
 We camped at a water hole that night, 
 and started on again the next morning 
 in the darkness before the dawn, with a 
 porter ahead carrying a lantern to show 
 the way. With ox- wagons it is a three- 
 days' journey from that water hole to the 
 Guas Nyiro River at the border of the 
 [67] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 Sotik. The country through which we 
 passed continued to be the same as that 
 of the Mau escarpment — a succession of 
 low hills and shallow valleys covered with 
 the small, twisted trees. And there was 
 plenty of water on the way. But there 
 was no game in the district. 
 
 We had been told before starting that 
 we need not expect to see anything on 
 the way, because antelope, zebra, and 
 such like animals avoid the wooded sec- 
 tion so as not to be caught unaware by 
 lions, and, since the prey seek the safety 
 of the open plains, the lions are com- 
 pelled to follow. 
 
 In spite of this fact, and although the 
 dense woods and broken ground generally 
 forced the safari to keep to the road, the 
 cowboys were always ready and the cam- 
 eras always loaded with film. But the 
 land on either side remained silent and 
 deserted. 
 
 [68] 
 
In Africa 
 
 And each day's journey was the same 
 as the one before; the start in the gray 
 of the morning, the long, hot ride, with 
 the road gently rising and falling over 
 the hills, and the sudden cool of the 
 evening when the sun went down. At 
 times the camera department would take 
 moving pictures of the wagons and por- 
 ters crossing a river, where an especially 
 picturesque bit of scenery offered an 
 attractive setting. Occasionally Means, 
 as he rode along, would commence sing- 
 ing one of the songs of our Western 
 plains, verse after verse, seemingly with- 
 out end, recounting in detail some local 
 historical event, such as an Indian attack 
 on an army post, a shooting affair at a 
 dance, or a train-robber's hanging. He 
 would sing more to himself than to any- 
 body else, and if this began to bore him 
 at all, he would stop in the middle and 
 leave the story untold. 
 [69] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 Then sometimes, when we outspanned 
 for an hour at noon, the four special 
 camera porters would give imitations of 
 Kearton and Gobbet taking pictures, of 
 Loveless shoeing horses, or of Means 
 in the act of roping. And in the eve- 
 nings, when the day's march was done 
 and the outpost fires had been lighted, 
 the talk of the company would turn to 
 our chances of finding luck in the Sotik 
 country that lay ahead. 
 
 In the afternoon of March 16 we 
 reached Webb's Farm, in the Guas 
 Nyiro Valley, which lies at the edge 
 of the big plains. In this neighbor- 
 hood there were three farms — Webb's, 
 Curry's, and Agate's — and on the even- 
 ing of our arrival some of their men 
 paid a visit to the camp. They had 
 heard of the expedition, and each in 
 turn examined the horses, the dogs, the 
 ropes, and the saddles, and then, like the 
 [70] 
 
In Africa 
 
 hunters at Nairobi, asked the inevitable 
 question : 
 
 "But how are you going to do it?" 
 
 "Oh, we'll do it somehow," the Colonel 
 replied good-naturedly. And the visitors 
 shook their heads a little and smiled and 
 changed the subject. 
 
 But to attempt to rope a rhinoceros or 
 a lion required fresh horses, and ever since 
 we had left Nairobi, nearly a fortnight 
 ago, we had worked our horses hard every 
 day. Now that we had reached the land 
 of the big game, the Colonel for the first 
 time called a day of rest. So we loafed 
 about camp from sunrise to sunset and 
 by evening were heartily sick of it all. 
 
 Perhaps we had expected too much of 
 this Sotik country ; perhaps the expedition 
 was running, temporarily, in a streak of 
 bad luck; but the fact remains that when 
 we resumed hunting on March 18, disap- 
 pointment only followed disappointment. 
 [71] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 As we had done in the Rift Valley, so 
 here we adopted the method of sweeping 
 the country with a widely extended line. 
 The first day we rode far to the south- 
 ward, to the Hot Springs and back, 
 and found nothing, and an unreasoning 
 depression settled upon the expedition. 
 The next day we rode still farther, to the 
 westward this time, and again found 
 nothing, and so the depression deepened. 
 Also on the afternoon of this day it 
 rained heavily, and Curry agreed with 
 Ulyate that this probably meant the be- 
 ginning of the rainy season, which was 
 already overdue. 
 
 That night at the supper table the 
 Colonel spoke his mind. The rain was 
 dripping through the canvas fly over- 
 head, and the Colonel wore his broad- 
 brimmed hat to help keep the water 
 oflf his plate. 
 
 "There's no use hanging round here 
 [72] 
 
In Africa 
 
 any longer," he said; "not a bit of use. 
 We haven't seen anything, nor a sign of 
 anything. When the rains begin in ear- 
 nest, this ground will soften fast an' the 
 horses will get bogged an' we'll have to 
 quit. So from now on we've got to 
 work fast. Now Ulyate says there's 
 water about twelve miles from here to 
 the north — called the Soda Swamp. 
 We'll start for the Soda Swamp in the 
 morning." 
 
 Again it was moving day. The morn- 
 ing dawned fine after the rain, and the 
 air was clear, and the country looked 
 greener and fresher than it had ever 
 looked before. By the time the sun 
 rose, the first wagon was packed, so the 
 safari set out on the journey, leaving 
 the second wagon to load and follow 
 our tracks, for there was no road to 
 the Soda Swamp. 
 
 At the last moment the Colonel de- 
 [73] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 cided that he and the cowboys might 
 just as well make a circuit to the wei^t- 
 ward of the line of march on the off 
 chance of finding game. 
 
 "We covered that district pretty thor- 
 oughly yesterday," he said. "But still, 
 you never can tell." 
 
 Yet nobody thought it worth while for 
 the camera department to go with them, 
 and so Kearton and Gobbet and the four 
 special porters trailed along with the 
 slow, plodding wagon. In the first place, 
 the wagons would follow the shortest 
 route and the horses would be none the 
 worse for an easy day; in the second, 
 if by the remotest chance the Colonel 
 flushed anything worth while, he could 
 more easily find the cameras. 
 
 Curry had remained behind to bring 
 
 on the second load, and soon Ulyate left 
 
 us to make a detour past Agate's Farm 
 
 to procure another sack of rice that was 
 
 [741 
 
I n Afr i c a 
 
 badly needed. Ours was a large safari, 
 and the details of transportation re- 
 quired close attention. 
 
 The morning wore on. The sky re- 
 mained clear and the heat became intense. 
 The direction in which we were travel- 
 ing led us along the border of the 
 plains, through small green parks, scat- 
 tered groves of trees, and scrub. 
 
 So far as the mounted men were con- 
 cerned, the march was a succession of 
 rides and halts. The heavily laden ox- 
 wagon traveled slowly, and it soon 
 became our custom to dismount in a bit 
 of shade and let the wagon pass ahead 
 about a mile, when we would mount 
 again and catch up with it and then 
 repeat the process. 
 
 At one of these places there was a 
 grass-grown mound against which we 
 sat, leaning comfortably, and specu- 
 lated on the distance we had come 
 [75] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 and the distance we had to go. When, 
 after a while, it became evident that we 
 should never agree in the matter, the 
 conversation altered to a sort of spas- 
 modic affair. 
 
 "I thought this district was so full 
 of big game that you couldn't sleep at 
 night for the lions roaring around you," 
 Gobbet remarked lazily. 
 
 "Wait till you get among them," said 
 Kearton. " Sais, keep that horse far- 
 ther away; he'll be walking on us next." 
 
 "Well, I haven't been kept awake 
 any yet," Gobbet replied. 
 
 "I wonder where that wagon's got 
 to," and Kearton raised himself on one 
 elbow and peered ahead from beneath 
 the down-tilted brim of his helmet. 
 Then he lay back again and shut his 
 eyes. 
 
 "Means is coming," he said. 
 
 The announcement occasioned no sur- 
 [76] 
 
In Africa 
 
 prise. Undoubtedly Means had some 
 reason for returning over the trail, and 
 when he reached the mound we should 
 probably learn what he wanted. 
 
 Means dismounted and sat down 
 beside us. "We've found a rhino over 
 in the next valley yonder," he remarked, 
 and nodded his head toward the west. 
 
 "A rhino is no matter to joke about," 
 said Gobbet. *' Please remember that in 
 the future." 
 
 "I'm not jokin'," said Means. "Colo- 
 nel's watchin' him. Loveless stopped 
 half-way here, about three miles off. 
 Colonel sent me to bring the rest of 
 you and get the heavy rope." 
 
 "Is that right, Means.?" Kearton 
 asked sharply. 
 
 "Sure." 
 
 "Come on, then." 
 
 In five minutes we had overtaken the 
 wagon and stopped it, and while Means 
 [77] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 clambered up on to the load to hunt for 
 the heavy rope, Kearton collected the 
 camera porters and started ahead with 
 them in the direction Means pointed out. 
 
 But Means could not find the rope 
 he wanted. He threw off half the load 
 without success. 
 
 "It's on the other wagon. There's 
 where it is," he finally concluded. "No 
 time to wait now. Other wagon likely 
 hasn't started yet. We'll have to do 
 with what we've got." 
 
 We rode on at an easy jog to keep the 
 horses fresh, and at the end of half an 
 hour we came upon Loveless waiting for 
 us just beneath the crest of a rise. He 
 had off-saddled his horse and had turned 
 him loose to graze a bit before the com- 
 ing work, and a few minutes were occu- 
 pied while Loveless saddled up again and 
 Kearton and Gobbet adjusted their cam- 
 eras and took them on their horses. 
 [781 
 
In Africa 
 
 Finally every one was ready, and we 
 set forth once more on a wide detour to 
 the north to approach the beast from 
 down the wind. 
 
 Loveless gave us the latest news: 
 "The Colonel came over the rise a half 
 hour ago and said the rhino was laying 
 down resting quiet. The Colonel went 
 back again at once to keep watch." 
 
 As we proceeded farther on the cir- 
 cuit and began to ride down the gentle 
 slope into the adjacent valley, we slowed 
 down the pace to a cautious walk. No 
 one spoke, and on the grass of the veldt 
 the tread of the horses made scarcely 
 any sound. 
 
 Suddenly the Colonel appeared, walk- 
 ing toward us, bent low. He had backed 
 out of his hiding-place behind a clump 
 of scrub. 
 
 "He's laying down over there about 
 a hundred yards away," he whispered. 
 [79] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 "Now we want to catch the start of the 
 show. You boys ready?" 
 
 Means tightened his cinch, and shook 
 his rope loose and coiled it up again. 
 Loveless said he was ready. One of 
 the saises produced the Colonel's horse 
 from behind another clump of scrub, and 
 Kearton dismounted and began creep- 
 ing forward with his camera. 
 
 "Don't start him up till I get my 
 position," he cautioned. "I'll wave my 
 hand." 
 
 On account of the growth of low 
 bushes we could not see the rhino, but 
 in silence we watched Kearton tiptoeing 
 farther and farther ahead toward the 
 spot where the Colonel had said the 
 beast was lying down. The time was 
 approximately a little after noon. The 
 wind that was blowing was light, and 
 came to us hot over the sunny reaches of 
 veldt. The sky was cloudless. 
 [80] 
 
In Africa 
 
 Then the three ropers commenced ma- 
 neuvering forward, swinging out a little 
 to the right. Kearton stopped. He set 
 up his camera and sighted it, and took 
 out his handkerchief and carefully wiped 
 the lens. 
 
 When Kearton waved his hand, the 
 Colonel's yell shattered the stillness and 
 the great beast heaved up out of the grass 
 and tossed his head and sniffed the air, 
 and snorted. The horsemen rode full 
 tilt at him, and with surprising quickness 
 the rhino wheeled and broke away south 
 down the valley. 
 
 For a good three miles the rhino ran 
 straight and fast. Finally he came into 
 more open country, which was dotted 
 here and there with small thorn trees. 
 Here, also, in one place there was a fair- 
 sized pool of water, left over from the 
 rains of the night before. The rhino 
 selected this pool as a good position 
 [81] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 from which to act on the defensive. He 
 splashed into the water, stopped, and 
 faced the horsemen. 
 
 Then followed a few minutes' respite 
 for all concerned. The horses were pant- 
 ing heavily after the sharp run, and the 
 rhino's position in the pool rendered it 
 diflScult to approach him for a chance 
 to throw a rope. Evidently considering 
 himself safe for the moment, the beast 
 rolled once or twice in the water and then 
 stood on guard as before, but with his 
 black sides dripping. 
 
 "We've got to get him out of that," 
 said the Colonel. "A horse wouldn't 
 stand a show there. Now when I get 
 him to charge me, you boys stand by." 
 
 Before the Colonel finished speaking, 
 he was already edging toward the pool. 
 For fifteen yards the rhino watched him 
 coming. Then with a great snort he 
 charged out of the water, sending the 
 [82] 
 
In Africa 
 
 white spray flying in every direction, 
 and the Colonel had to ride hard to 
 keep ahead of the tossing horn. But 
 Means was after the rhino like a flash, 
 and with a quick throw caught him 
 round the neck. The big bay fell back 
 on his haunches and the rope snapped 
 like twine. 
 
 "We'll miss that heavy rope to-day," 
 Means said. 
 
 "We'll tie him up with what we've 
 got," the Colonel replied. '*Only we've 
 got to tire him out some first. What 
 we'll do is to make him charge us one 
 after the other, so he'll run three times 
 to the horses' running once." 
 
 It was a full half -hour before the next 
 attempt was made to throw a rope. 
 Time after time the rhino came plunging 
 out of the water to charge the nearest 
 horseman. Our Western horses proved 
 to be only just a trifle faster than the 
 [83] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 rhino, so that each time the beast nearly 
 caught them. Besides, here and there 
 the ground was bad with ant-bear holes, 
 which had to be avoided, for a fall would 
 mean disaster. But little by little it 
 became apparent that the rhino's con- 
 tinual charging was beginning to produce 
 an effect. 
 
 In the meanwhile the rest of the chase 
 was coming up. In the distance we 
 could see them hurrying down the val- 
 ley — horsemen and porters consider- 
 ably scattered, as if each one followed a 
 route of his own choosing. Kearton led 
 on his big chestnut. He was carrying the 
 heavy camera under his arm, the tripod 
 over his shoulder. The reins were hang- 
 ing loose over his saddle horn, his heels 
 were thumping the horse's sides, and the 
 perspiration was streaming down his face. 
 
 "We lost you," he panted. "How's it 
 going.? What a picture!" 
 [84] 
 
In Africa 
 
 Mac, the Mohammedan, and Aro, the 
 Masai warrior, took the apparatus from 
 him, and he dismounted and went to 
 work. 
 
 At the second attempt to rope the 
 beast. Loveless caught him by one hind 
 leg, and the rhino decided to shift his 
 base of operations to an ant-hill in the 
 neighboring clearing. His mode of pro- 
 gression was to walk on three legs and to 
 drag the black horse after him with the 
 other. He reached the ant-hill and 
 demolished it and paused for a breathing 
 spell. 
 
 The chase followed after, and Kearton 
 went into action on the north, and 
 Gobbet on the south, near a small thorn 
 tree, with a negro porter beside him. 
 The rhino caught sight of Gobbet's 
 camera and charged. The porter went up 
 the tree like a flash. Gobbet was bent 
 over, looking through his view-finder, 
 [85] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 which, of course, gave him no idea of how 
 fast the beast was bearing down on him 
 nor how close he had already come. 
 
 "Look out!" yelled the Colonel. 
 
 Gobbet glanced up over the top of the 
 camera and made a jump for the tree. 
 But the porter was already in the 
 branches, and the tree was so small there 
 was not room for two, and Gobbet had 
 to run for it. The next second, with a 
 powerful upward stroke of his horn, the 
 rhino sent the apparatus flying. Then 
 Means succeeded in attracting his atten- 
 tion and he charged the horseman in- 
 stead. Gobbet picked up the debris, 
 found that the tripod-head was split 
 clean in two as with an axe, found the 
 camera itself undamaged, found there 
 w^as enough head left to support the 
 camera, quickly mounted his machine 
 again, and was just in time to catch the 
 end of the rhino's chase after Means. 
 [86] 
 
/ n Afr i c a 
 
 And all the while Kearton had his 
 camera trained upon the scene in which 
 his assistant was playing the conspicu- 
 ous part. 
 
 "I hope I got that good," he said; 
 "it'll make fine action — fine." 
 
 From one position to another, from 
 ant-hill to thorn tree and back to ant- 
 hill once more, the fight went on through 
 the long, hot afternoon. Ropes were 
 thrown and caught and broken, mended 
 and thrown again. The horses were 
 pulled, all standing, one way and an- 
 other. Rolls of film were exposed and 
 replaced by fresh ones. The rhino sulked 
 and stormed and charged in turn. 
 
 At the end of the fourth hour. Love- 
 less had one short length of light line 
 left. The rest of the ropes were dangling, 
 broken, from the rhino's legs and neck 
 as he stood at bay over the ruins of the 
 ant-hill. 
 
 [87] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 The sun was rapidly canting toward 
 the west. The continual work in the 
 intense heat, without food or water, was 
 beginning to tell on both horses and men. 
 The rhino was weakening faster. But 
 only one hour of daylight remained, and 
 if the beast could hold out till dark we 
 should lose him. 
 
 There was the dead stump of a tree 
 with the roots protruding lying in the 
 grass near by. The Colonel told Means 
 to fasten the stump to the last piece of 
 line, and Loveless rode toward Kear- 
 ton's machine, past the rhino, dragging 
 the stump behind him. As the Colonel 
 had foreseen, the beast charged at the 
 stump, and the loose ropes hanging from 
 him became entangled in the roots. 
 
 So on they went at a run, first Love- 
 less, then the stump, bounding over the 
 ground, then the charging rhino, headed 
 straight for Kearton's camera. The 
 [88] 
 
In Africa 
 
 Masai warrior stood by the tripod with 
 his long spear poised high, and Kearton 
 turned the handle and shouted at Love- 
 less: 
 
 "How many times have I got to tell 
 you not to come straight into the lens? 
 Bring him on at an angle! ... I don't 
 want to be unreasonable," he added, 
 when the rhino stopped, "but you ought 
 to have learned better by this time." 
 
 Then, by hauling in gently. Loveless 
 succeeded in recovering two of the 
 ropes, and they were pieced together 
 and thrown again, catching the rhino by 
 one hind leg. Both the cowboys put their 
 horses to work pulling forward on the 
 rope, and they lifted that one hind leg 
 ahead. The tired beast shifted his great 
 body after it, and thus step by step the 
 horses dragged him up to a tree, where 
 Loveless passed the end of the rope two 
 turns around the bole and made it fast. 
 [89] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 The rhino charged once just before 
 the knot was tied, and Loveless had to 
 jump into the branches through the 
 thorns to escape. He charged again, 
 rather feebly this time, trying to get 
 free, but the rope held well and tripped 
 him up. After that he stood quietly at 
 the end of his tether, watching the cam- 
 era in a sullen way while Kearton took 
 his picture with the last few feet of film. 
 
 By this time the light was almost 
 gone, the films were finished, horses and 
 men were nearly done, and, besides, it 
 was moving day and high time we 
 resumed the march. 
 
 [90] 
 
PART THREE 
 
PART THREE 
 
 THERE was no use trying to avoid 
 the fact any longer. The hons, 
 for the present, had left the 
 Sotik country, and by remaining in camp 
 at the Soda Swamp the Buffalo Jones 
 Expedition was only wasting time. And 
 time was precious then — was growing 
 more precious every day — if we expected 
 to finish the work before rains. 
 
 The lion was the only big game we 
 wanted now to complete the list of wild 
 animals roped and tied, and the hon 
 was the most important of all. The expe- 
 dition had traveled the long journey to 
 the Sotik country especially to find them. 
 Yet ever since the capture of the rhi- 
 noceros on the moving day of March 
 20th we had thoroughly swept the land 
 [931 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 in the vicinity of the Soda Swamp with- 
 out finding even a single spoor. It 
 simply meant that the lions were not 
 there. Some explanations were offered, 
 some arguments arose as to the whys and 
 wherefores of this state of affairs. A 
 few maintained that the lions had always 
 been found there before; it was strange 
 they should have gone. A theory was 
 advanced that the rains were late and 
 the country was unusually dry, so that 
 the game had shifted to better pastures. 
 Perhaps some water hole they depended 
 on had failed. There is generally some 
 discussion on such occasions. We had 
 counted so much on the Sotik to give us 
 our chance that the truth was hard to 
 realize at first. But no matter what 
 the cause might be, we were finally 
 forced to acknowledge the undeniable 
 fact — the lions had left the district. 
 On the evening of March 25 the expe- 
 [94] 
 
In Africa 
 
 dition faced the situation. As usual, 
 the night fell cold, and when supper 
 was finished the company collected about 
 the fire that was burning close to the 
 horses. A light wind stirred in the 
 leaves overhead and the sky was full of 
 stars. Here and there a tired horse 
 was already half asleep, and his head 
 nodded gently in the firelight. From the 
 darkness came the low talk of the saises, 
 rolled in their blankets on the ground 
 at the end of the picket line. 
 
 Most of the men stood with their backs 
 to the flames, gazing vacantly at the 
 horses, the trees, or the stars. For a while 
 not a word was said. Means threw an- 
 other log on the fire and then squatted on 
 his heels and silently watched the flames 
 catch the bark and flare up brightly. As 
 the heat increased, Kearton took a step 
 farther away and stood again. Every 
 one knew that the Sotik had failed us 
 [95] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 and that it was time for us to go, and 
 so eventually when the Colonel spoke he 
 only voiced the general conclusion. 
 
 "We've got to go back/' he said, 
 speaking straight in front of him at the 
 nearest of the sleepy horses. "We've 
 got to go to-morrow and have a try 
 from the water hole at the Rugged Rocks 
 where we saw the two lions on the way 
 out here. We may find one there and 
 we may not. If we don't, we've got 
 to go on to Nairobi and start all over 
 again — provided the rains don't begin." 
 
 Accordingly, through the long hot 
 days the safari plodded back over the 
 way we had come — from the Soda 
 Swamp to Agate's, from Agate's to the 
 Honeybird River, and then on once 
 more to the Last Water. The cameras 
 were stowed away on the wagons, the 
 ropes remained coiled on the saddles, 
 for there was no probability of our find- 
 [96] 
 
In Africa 
 
 ing lions on the way. And each man 
 rode as his judgment decreed, because 
 the business of the safari then was to 
 get on over the road, and the ox-wagons 
 behind came along as best they could. 
 
 For the most part it was a silent jour- 
 ney. The expedition had turned its back 
 on the district that only a short week 
 ago had held out such alluring prom- 
 ises, and any day now the rains might 
 commence effectually to put a stop to 
 the work before it was done. Then, 
 too — although this may seem to be a 
 small matter, still it had weight with all 
 of us — the white hunters of the coun- 
 try had ridiculed the idea of our being 
 able to rope a lion, and the prospect of 
 returning and admitting defeat without 
 having been given a proper chance was 
 not pleasant to contemplate. 
 
 At the Last Water we outspanned for 
 the night and most of the succeeding 
 [97] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 day. In view of the situation, the long 
 halt was absolutely necessary to give the 
 oxen a good rest and drink before setting 
 forth on the twenty-four-hour journey 
 without water to the Rugged Rocks. 
 But throughout the dragging hours of 
 the enforced rest always there loomed 
 ahead of us the possibility of failure and 
 the need of haste. No mention was 
 made of this openly. The only sign of 
 our underlying anxiety was a vague rest- 
 lessness pervading the entire safari. 
 
 Once on the march again, with the sun 
 low in the west, the restlessness disap- 
 peared. The night came dark, because 
 the moon rose late, and the air was 
 still, so that the dust that lifted from be- 
 neath the feet of the oxen drifted along 
 with the wagon. Now and again one of 
 the wheels bumped over a rock in the 
 road and the brake beam shook and 
 rattled. At times the high-pitched cries 
 [981 
 
I n Afr i c a 
 
 of the native drivers pierced the still- 
 ness. Ahead of us the bulk of the wagon- 
 load loomed big against the stars. 
 
 When the dying moon first showed 
 red through the branches of the twisted 
 trees, the safari crossed the top of the Mau 
 and commenced the slow descent to the 
 valley, and the wagons in front became 
 lost in the darkness and the dust. When 
 the morning star rose, we had come to the 
 foothills of the escarpment, and the dawn 
 wind sprang up cold, so that the men 
 shivered a little in their saddles and 
 buttoned up their coats and began to 
 talk. 
 
 "It was just about here that we 
 caught the giraffe that day," said Kear- 
 ton. '' Remember .f^ And wasn't it hot .^" 
 
 The talk drifted aimlessly, round and 
 
 about, from the western ranches to 
 
 Flicker Alley and the London Music 
 
 Halls, only to return in the end, as it 
 
 [99 1 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 naturally would, to the water hole at 
 Rugged Rocks and our chances of find- 
 ing lion. The discussion was lengthy 
 on this point — it always was. 
 
 By the time the sun came, the expe- 
 dition had entered the plain of the Rift 
 Valley, and with the rising of the sun 
 the thirst began. Toward noon we 
 halted for a couple of hours to allow the 
 worst of the heat to pass over, gave 
 the horses and the porters a little of 
 the water that was carried on one of the 
 wagons, and then inspanned again and 
 went on. As the horsemen took the 
 road the Colonel outlined his plan. 
 
 "We'll give the horses a good rest to- 
 night, for we ought to make camp early, 
 and then start hunting the first thing in 
 the morning. We've got enough horse- 
 feed to last us three or four days if 
 the water holds out that long. In that 
 time we ought to get a lion if there's 
 [1001 
 
In Africa 
 
 any there. I'll ride on now a bit and 
 look for signs." 
 
 The Colonel's horse was a faster walker 
 than the others and slowly he forged 
 ahead. Little by little the safari began to 
 string out along the road until wide spaces 
 grew between the ox- wagons, with the 
 porters straggling after them a mile be- 
 hind. A change had come over the valley 
 since we had seen it last. The land was 
 whiter beneath the blazing sunshine and 
 the dust lay thicker in the road. Some- 
 how it seemed deserted. The only move- 
 ment was the shimmer of the heat waves. 
 
 The camera department had the slow- 
 est mounts, and as the march had be- 
 come a plodding procession, in which the 
 horses were allowed to choose their own 
 paces, one by one the other members 
 of the expedition passed us. 
 
 Loveless came from behind and rode 
 with us for haK a mile or so. 
 [101] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 '*I've been thinking this thing over," 
 he finally said, **and my idea is that 
 after the dogs get the lion stopped, one 
 of us can go by him, rope him, and keep 
 on going, and then the other fellow can 
 catch him by the hind legs and we've 
 got him. If you keep on going fast 
 enough, I don't think he'll have a 
 chance to spring at you." 
 
 In the pause that followed the deliv- 
 ery of this opinion on a matter that 
 had been thrashed out a hundred times 
 before, his horse gradually carried him 
 farther ahead until he had gone beyond 
 the range of talk. 
 
 Ulyate, the white hunter, was the 
 next. Kearton had just finished fill- 
 ing his pipe and he silently reached out 
 the bag of tobacco. But Ulyate shook 
 his head. 
 
 "Throat's too dry," he said. "But 
 I want to be sure I understand what 
 [102] 
 
In Africa 
 
 I've got to do. I 'm to stand by to pro- 
 tect the cameras and leave the Colonel 
 and the two boys to look after them- 
 selves. If the lion charges them I'm not 
 to fire — only if he comes at the cameras." 
 
 "That's right — only if he comes at 
 the cameras." 
 
 "That's what I thought, but I wanted 
 
 to make sure It's a likely place, this 
 
 Rugged Rocks," he continued over his 
 shoulder. "We might easily find one 
 to-morrow." 
 
 Means on his big bay borrowed a drink 
 of water from Gobbet's canteen, and 
 rode on after the others. 
 
 The march of the safari grew slower 
 and slower. The road was flat, bending 
 a little back and forth in long, sweeping 
 curves, like a rope that had once been taut 
 but was loosened. The native drivers 
 no longer cried at the oxen, for the beasts 
 knew by instinct that they were traveling 
 [103] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 to water, and could be relied upon to do 
 their best; and the men rode with their 
 heads hung down, watching the shadows 
 of the horses on the road and hoping to 
 see them lengthen. 
 
 The Colonel, the two cowboys, and 
 Ulyate reached the Rugged Rocks at least 
 an hour ahead, and when the rest of us 
 came straggling in we found them seated 
 on the ground with their backs to the bole 
 of a tree. None of them looked up as 
 we halted there, dismounted, and turned 
 the horses loose. Then Ulyate spoke. 
 
 "Water hole has dried," he said. 
 
 There was nothing to be done about 
 it. If the water hole had dried, it had 
 dried. That was all. And we had to 
 push on to Kijabe. Lions or no lions 
 there was no appeal from that decree. 
 So we sat down with the others and 
 watched the progress of the far-off dust 
 cloud that marked the approaching wag- 
 [104] 
 
In Africa 
 
 ons. Then, when darkness came again, 
 the safari resumed the march. 
 
 But the Colonel refused to abandon 
 his former plan entirely without making 
 at least one more attempt. Together 
 with the two cowboys and Kearton he 
 remained behind to scout at dawn the 
 district between the Rugged Rocks and 
 the railway. 
 
 "We might be able to tell if it's worth 
 while to come back here," he explained. 
 
 It was nearly noon of the following 
 day before the scouting party rejoined 
 the expedition on the platform of the 
 Kijabe station. The party reported that 
 near the base of Longernot, the northern 
 volcano, a belt of lava rock rises perpen- 
 dicularly from the plain. Close to the 
 southern end of this belt they had flushed 
 two lions, a male and a female, and had 
 kept sight of them for fully an hour. 
 It was the opinion of all in the party 
 [105] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 that the Hons Hved in the neighborhood, 
 probably in the rocks. 
 
 "Very Kkely," said Ulyate; '*no one 
 has ever hunted that corner of the val- 
 ley. There is no water there." 
 
 At first the Colonel was anxious to 
 start back for them at once, hauling the 
 water with us; but after a moment's 
 reflection he was compelled to concede 
 that it was time to call a halt. Means 
 had strained his back again and could 
 no longer sit straight in the saddle. 
 An old thorn wound in Loveless's foot 
 needed attention. Horses, dogs, and 
 oxen were entirely fagged out. And 
 besides, the camera department de- 
 manded time to develop the earlier pic- 
 tures, already too long kept in the 
 rolls. 
 
 Of course, as the Colonel maintained, 
 the rains might come and the chance be 
 lost. Also the lions might not live in 
 [1061 
 
In Africa 
 
 the rocks, as we thought, and to-morrow 
 they might be gone. 
 
 "Better grab the opportunity while we 
 have it," he said. 
 
 "Look at the horses," said Means. 
 
 The Colonel walked deliberately along 
 the platform to where the horses were 
 tethered among the trees, and stood 
 there watching them for quite a while. 
 
 "You're right. Means," he said, when 
 he returned to us. "They'll need at least 
 four or five days before we can put them 
 at a lion — well, we've got to chance it." 
 
 The next five days were the longest 
 in the history of the expedition. The 
 Colonel, Means, and Ulyate remained at 
 Kijabe with the outfit. The rest of us 
 traveled down the line to Nairobi to 
 procure more porters, more horse-feed, 
 and more supplies; and every day we 
 watched the weather closely and specu- 
 lated on the probabilities of how long 
 [107] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 the lions would see fit to remain in the 
 district. The time was so short that all 
 other plans had been abandoned to take 
 advantage of this one opportunity — the 
 expedition was plunging, so to speak, on 
 this final chance to succeed. But the 
 weather held clear, and in the meanwhile 
 the preparations for this last attempt 
 w^ere pushed with the utmost speed. 
 
 The hunters at Nairobi, together with 
 the storekeepers and farmers of the vicin- 
 ity, had heard of the capture of the 
 rhino. On occasions some of them spoke 
 of it to us. They explained that they 
 had thought all along that we could un- 
 doubtedly rope a rhino. 
 
 "But you haven't got a lion yet, 
 have you?" they said. 
 
 On April 5 the preparations were 
 
 nearly completed and Loveless 's foot 
 
 was nearly well. So we started up the 
 
 line to rejoin the outfit, leaving Gobbet 
 
 [108] 
 
In Africa 
 
 at Nairobi to finish developing the films. 
 We could not afford to spend more time 
 in preparation. 
 
 At Kijabe we found the horses thor- 
 oughly rested and Means 's back much 
 improved. He had refused to see a 
 doctor, asserting that his back would just 
 naturally get better of its own accord. 
 He said he was ready to start. 
 
 With one exception the dogs were in 
 good condition — old John from Arizona 
 with his scars of many battles, Rastus 
 and The Rake, taken from a pack of 
 EngUsh fox-hounds, and Simba, the ter- 
 rier, and the collie, chpped like a lion, 
 from the London pound. Sounder, the 
 American bloodhound, still showed some 
 effects of distemper. But none of the 
 dogs was to be left behind on this jour- 
 ney. 
 
 That night the ox-wagons were loaded 
 — one with provisions and camp bag- 
 [109] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 gage, the other with drums of water — 
 and when the dawn first began to break 
 over the top of the range the expedition 
 set forth from the station. The crater 
 on Longernot had already caught the 
 first rays of the sun when we reached 
 the bottom of the hill and started across 
 the flat land of the valley. 
 
 There was no road leading to where we 
 were going, nor track, nor path of any 
 kind. No safari had ever gone there 
 before. From the height of Kijabe sta- 
 tion we had seen what looked to be a 
 long, low mound in the distant veldt. 
 The southern end of that long, low 
 mound was our destination. 
 
 The horsemen, as usual, spread out 
 in a widely extended line and passed in 
 front of the wagons and porters. As 
 we penetrated farther into the valley 
 the nature of the country altered. 
 Open parks and stretches of scrub sue- 
 [110] 
 
In Africa 
 
 ceeded one another, with here and there 
 a dry donga cutting deep into the ground. 
 As we approached the mound it rapidly 
 grew in height and the black rocks com- 
 menced to appear beneath the covering 
 of verdure. 
 
 Among the settlers of the district 
 this mound is called the Black Reef. 
 It is the general opinion that the Black 
 Reef is formed of lava that long ago 
 flowed down into the plain from the 
 crater of Longernot. The sides, which 
 rise almost perpendicularly to a height 
 of some two hundred feet, are composed 
 of jagged blocks of stone, honeycombed 
 with deep caves and caverns. The top 
 is covered with thick scrub and creepers 
 and tall, rank grasses. To the south- 
 ward it ends abruptly, as though the 
 lava flow had suddenly stopped and 
 cooled. 
 
 Under the shadow of the Black Reef 
 
 [111] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 the hunting party was divided into 
 three parts. The day was too far ad- 
 vanced for any real hunting to be done, 
 but as long as the light lasted the Colonel 
 wanted to make a personal survey of 
 the ground in the immediate vicinity of 
 the rocks. Accordingly he rode to the 
 northern end of the reef, sending the 
 two cowboys to the plains to the south, 
 while the rest remained where we had 
 halted, behind the southern shoulder, 
 to wait for the arrival of the wagons and 
 make camp. But the only incident of 
 the afternoon was a thunder-cloud that 
 rose up out of the north and hung there, 
 and then gradually disappeared, as the 
 twilight advanced. 
 
 The others were late in coming in. 
 The Colonel in the north had found 
 tracks — innumerable tracks of differ- 
 ent kinds of beasts — all excepting those 
 of the lion. In the south the two cow- 
 [112] 
 
>^w^y^^^'- 
 
 ; ** ■' ,.1 .f *,'',' 
 
 f-~wMk^ 
 
 isfiil 
 
 «i 
 
 |g^ 
 
 
 ^^^^^^^^HHjJPpik ft'^i JHI^^ilH 
 
 
 
 > 
 1 
 
 » 
 
 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^^^■K 
 
 «HPi 
 
 ,■4 
 
 m 
 
In Africa 
 
 boys had found a large mixed herd of 
 game; and Loveless had dismounted to 
 shoot for meat, when out of the herd a 
 rhino charged him and he had to kill it 
 to save himself. 
 
 "Well, so long as he's dead we'll let 
 him lie where he is," said the Colonel. 
 "Lions are mighty fond of rhino meat. 
 They'll travel miles to get it. Day 
 after to-morrow, say just at dawn, we 
 ought to be able to pick up a fresh trail 
 there. If we don't, it will mean that the 
 lions are no longer here, that's all." 
 
 Loveless grunted some unintelligible 
 comment. 
 
 "Might as well be cheerful," said 
 Means. "We're not beat yet." 
 
 The first real hunting day commenced 
 at daylight the next morning. Hour 
 after hour the horsemen traveled the 
 plains, back and forth, and across and 
 around, and carefully searched the base of 
 [113] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 the Black Reef on every side. Only one 
 spot was left untouched. The Colonel de- 
 creed that no one should approach where 
 the dead rhino lay, lest our presence 
 there should arouse suspicion too soon. 
 The rhino was a sort of special chance 
 that was to be saved for the proper time. 
 
 The day was unusually still and cloud- 
 less. Here and there throughout the 
 plains scattered herds of zebra, harte- 
 beests, and gazelles grazed in peace. 
 Not a spoor or a sign of lion was to be 
 seen. For us the day was a blank, and 
 toward evening the thunder-cloud rose 
 again out of the north and again melted 
 away into the twilight. 
 
 The camp behind the shoulder of the 
 Black Reef was a dry camp. Every drop 
 of water had to be hauled in drums from 
 Sewell's Farm. The ox-wagon went in 
 the morning and returned in the after- 
 noon. In this way we could haul just 
 [114] 
 
In Africa 
 
 enough water to last the outfit twenty- 
 four hours. Special rules were inaugu- 
 rated. Horses and dogs were given the 
 preference always, and one of the escaries 
 was detailed to guard the drums. 
 
 That night the wagon was long in re- 
 turning from Sewell's. When it finally 
 arrived, the water in one of the drums 
 had a strange taste. 
 
 "It's bad," said Loveless. 
 
 Immediately the affair assumed grave 
 proportions. That particular drum be- 
 came the most important object in camp. 
 A feeling akin to personal animosity 
 sprang up against it. For a time the 
 merits and demerits of the case were 
 seriously discussed, and some of the 
 porters gathered there and stared stu- 
 pidly at the wagon-load of water. 
 
 "I'll tell you what it is," said Ul- 
 yate; "it's the weeds they've used as a 
 stopper." 
 
 [115] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 The weeds in question were inspected 
 closely and various judgments passed, 
 and some of the men were reminded of 
 other times in other lands when the 
 water had turned bad on their hands. 
 
 Means drew a cupful and sipped delib- 
 erately. 
 
 "It might be the weeds," he finally 
 remarked. *'It's not really bad — only 
 tastes bad." 
 
 So in the end we begged the question 
 by setting the drum aside and deciding 
 to use it only if we had to. 
 
 But there were other matters to be 
 determined that evening. 
 
 In the Colonel's opinion the time had 
 come for us to try to find a trail at the 
 carcass of the rhino, and the talk lasted 
 far into the night. When finally evolved, 
 the plan of campaign was simple. 
 
 It was arranged that the Colonel, with 
 the dogs, should go to the southeast, 
 [116] 
 
In Africa 
 
 where the dead rhino lay, the two cow- 
 boys should ride about two miles to the 
 southwest and wait near the lower end 
 of the big donga, and Kearton, Ulyate, 
 and myself should scale the southern 
 face of the Black Reef, where, with the 
 aid of glasses, we could keep in touch 
 with the Colonel and the boys on the 
 plain below. Thus the men would be 
 stationed at each corner of a vast tri- 
 angle. If the Colonel flushed a lion, 
 the animal would probably break for 
 either the rocks or the donga, and so 
 either the cowboys or the camera depart- 
 ment could cut him off. Because the 
 distances were so great, the customary 
 signal of two revolver shots to "gather" 
 could not be relied upon; the lighting of 
 a fire would mean the same. 
 
 The morning star was still bright in 
 the eastern heavens when the expedi- 
 tion rode out of camp in the early hours 
 [117] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 of April 8. At the end of half a mile 
 the three parties gradually separated on 
 slightly diverging lines and moved 
 silently to their appointed stations. 
 Leaving the horses and the camera por- 
 ters at the base of the reef, the three of 
 us of the center station climbed the 
 rocks in the darkness and waited for the 
 dawn. 
 
 Slowly the first signs of day appeared 
 over the hills and the morning star com- 
 menced to fade. As the light strength- 
 ened, the wide panorama of the plains 
 and the far-off mountains unfolded and 
 the individual patches of scrub and 
 single trees began to stand out distinctly 
 from the general blur of the darker 
 reaches. 
 
 For fully half an hour everything was 
 still and the light steadily broadened. 
 Then suddenly Ulyate pointed. 
 
 In the plain to the southeast we could 
 [118] 
 
In Africa 
 
 see a black speck moving about in a 
 strange manner — first one way, then 
 another, then stopping and moving on 
 again. 
 
 "It's the Colonel," said Kearton, who 
 had the glasses. "I think I can see the 
 dogs. He's up to something." 
 
 It was not many minutes before the 
 Colonel's actions took on a different 
 trend. For a space he rode straight for 
 the reef. There the smaller black specks 
 of the dogs appeared on the plain in 
 front. No doubt remained now of what 
 the Colonel was up to. The dogs were 
 on the trail of some animal — lion or 
 hyena, there was no telling which — but 
 the scent was hot and the hunt was 
 coming strong. 
 
 At one place the dogs made a big 
 bend to the north toward our camp. So 
 the beast, whatever it was, had come to 
 have a look at us in the night. 
 [119] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 For the first time then, as they swung 
 back for the rocks, we faintly heard a 
 hound give tongue. It was the only 
 sound in the stillness. 
 
 Kearton began tearing up the dry 
 grass that grew in the cracks between the 
 rocks, and piled it in a heap. 
 
 "Not yet," said Ulyate; "wait till 
 we're sure." 
 
 On came the hunt, following close to 
 the southern base of the reef. The 
 hounds could be heard giving tongue in 
 turn now. The Colonel rode behind, 
 leaning forward and cheering on the 
 dogs. 
 
 "He's made for the rocks all right — 
 come on," said Ulyate as, rifle in hand, 
 he started down the cliff. 
 
 Kearton touched a match to the pile 
 
 of grass, and blew on it in his hurry, and 
 
 as the small flame sprang into life he 
 
 threw on some green stuff and in a thin 
 
 [120] 
 
In Africa 
 
 blue column the smoke rose up straight 
 into the air. 
 
 "That will fetch the boys all right," 
 he said, and we followed Ulyate down to 
 the plain. 
 
 Although the delay in lighting the 
 fire was brief, yet by the time we had 
 reached the base and had mounted the 
 horses, the Colonel, Ulyate, and the dogs 
 had already passed out of sight beyond a 
 farther out- jutting buttress of rock. 
 
 We rounded the buttress only to find 
 that the chase had vanished. The almost 
 perpendicular wall of rocks was empty. 
 There was a moment's halt. Then two 
 quick shots rang out, and at once there 
 began a general chorus of baying, yelp- 
 ing dogs, intermingled with the deep, 
 heavy roar of a lion. 
 
 The sounds came from somewhere in 
 the thick growth on top of the Reef, so 
 we left the horses and climbed toward 
 [121] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 the sound. On the plateau the ground 
 was covered with rugged lava blocks, 
 and the scrub and creepers were so dense 
 that when Kearton shouted Ulyate's 
 name the white hunter answered from 
 not more than ten yards away. 
 
 "It's a honess," said Ulyate. "The 
 dogs have got her bayed. Look out! 
 She's just on the other side of that bush. 
 When I got here I found the Colonei 
 seated on his horse, facing the beast and 
 trying to rope her. He didn't even have 
 a knife on him. Why she didn't charge 
 him I don't know. He couldn't get away 
 over this kind of ground. He told me to 
 call the others and so I fired." 
 
 When the cowboys arrived from the 
 distant donga, they came threading their 
 way toward us through the brush, lead- 
 ing their horses. A short consultation 
 was held. 
 
 "We've got to shift her," said the 
 [122] 
 
In Africa 
 
 Colonel. "Can't do anything with her 
 here. Bring the firecrackers. Bring — 
 there she goes!" 
 
 The lioness had decided the issue and 
 had bolted of her own accord. There 
 was a streak of yellow through the 
 bushes, a scrambling of dogs, wild, fright- 
 ened cries from the approaching camera 
 porters, and the hunt was on once more. 
 
 The beast ran to an open cave at the 
 edge of the plateau and crouched there 
 facing the dogs. To maneuver the horses 
 was absolutely out of the question, so 
 the lioness had to be shifted again. For 
 upward of two hours then, by means of 
 the dogs, firecrackers, and lighting the 
 grass, we drove her from one stronghold 
 to another, from crevasse to crevasse, 
 in trying to force her down off the reef. 
 
 The sun rose and the heat commenced. 
 The dogs were feeling the strain of the 
 constant baying. One by one they would 
 [123] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 seek a spot of shade and lie panting there 
 for a while and then return to the fray. 
 Sounder, being weak from distemper, was 
 the first to give out, but he had done his 
 share of the work. Porters were sent 
 back to camp to bring water. Because 
 the ground was bad and the beast was on 
 the defensive, photography was difficult, 
 but Kearton managed to catch small bits 
 of action here and there, with Ulyate 
 standing by him. 
 
 The day advanced and the dogs showed 
 signs of tiring fast, yet the lioness still 
 clung to the stronghold of the rocks. 
 Every means at hand to drive her into 
 the open had been tried time and again 
 without avail. The task began to look 
 hopeless. We had already reached the 
 stage when we saw our resources coming 
 to an end. 
 
 "Get a pole," said the Colonel, "and 
 we'll poke a noose over her." 
 [124] 
 
In Africa 
 
 "It won't work," said Loveless. 
 "We've tried that often enough to show 
 it won't work." 
 
 "Just the same we'll try it again," 
 repKed the Colonel. 
 
 Loveless had just started to hunt for 
 the pole when, without warning, the 
 beast gave a quick, savage snarl, scat- 
 tered the dogs from in front of her, and, 
 dropping down the face of the reef to 
 the plain below, ran straight for the dis- 
 tant donga. 
 
 Old John led the chase, with the rest 
 of the dogs trailing along as best they 
 could, and behind them the men and 
 horses, camera porters, saises, and dog- 
 boys went scrambling down the rocks in 
 pursuit. 
 
 On the bank of the donga the lioness 
 
 stopped to fight the ropers. She had 
 
 run far enough and meant business now, 
 
 and the hunt came up and halted a 
 
 [125] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 short distance away for a breathing 
 spell. 
 
 The lioness had taken up her position 
 at the end of a short tongue of land pro- 
 jecting into the donga, so that she was 
 partially protected on three sides. The 
 yelping dogs had quickly surrounded her, 
 but she paid little heed to them now. 
 Crouched by the side of a small thorn- 
 bush, she watched every move of the 
 horsemen preparing to advance. 
 
 Kearton mounted his camera at one 
 side of the scene, selecting his position 
 with care to obtain the best background 
 and general composition. He shifted 
 about two or three times before he was 
 satisfied. 
 
 ''Of course there's no telling which 
 way she's going to jump," he explained. 
 "But we might as well get the beginning 
 of it right." 
 
 Means went first. Slowly he maneu- 
 [126] 
 
In Africa 
 
 vered toward her for a chance to throw 
 his rope, and the Honess, alert, opened 
 her jaws and snarled at the horseman 
 circling near. 
 
 Closer and closer Means approached. 
 Then all at once she charged. Means 
 wheeled and spurred his horse to escape. 
 For the first thirty yards of the race the 
 lioness gained rapidly. Then the bay 
 began to gather headway and slowly 
 forged ahead. 
 
 With a quick change of front the lion- 
 ess turned and charged the Colonel, who 
 was sitting on his horse near by. Again 
 the lioness gained at first and again the 
 horse drew away from her, and so, giv- 
 ing up the charge, she returned to an- 
 other thorn-bush, where she crouched 
 down low and snarled and growled as 
 before. And all the while Kearton, on 
 foot with his tripod, was busy taking 
 pictures of the show. 
 [127] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 This second position of hers gave the 
 horsemen a better chance. There was 
 now more room in which to get near her 
 by a quick dash past the bush. While 
 Means edged around on the northern 
 side, the Colonel moved to the south, 
 and by tossing his rope about and shout- 
 ing he managed to attract and hold her 
 attention. In fact, he nearly succeeded 
 too well, for once she rose to the first 
 spring of the charge and the Colonel 
 half wheeled his horse for flight, but the 
 beast sank back again and glared at 
 him. 
 
 Then from behind her Means darted 
 forward on the run, swinging his rope 
 free round and round his head. Kear- 
 ton began shouting. 
 
 '*Wait — the camera's jammed! Wait 
 a bit — she's jammed here!" 
 
 But there was no stopping then, and 
 before the lioness knew what he was up 
 [128] 
 
In Africa 
 
 to, Means dashed by within a few feet 
 of her and roped her round the neck. 
 But a lioness's neck is short and thick, 
 and with a quick, cathke twist she sHpped 
 the noose over her ears. 
 
 "Why can't they wait?" complained 
 Kearton. "Somebody tell them to wait 
 till I fix this. It's jammed. It must 
 have got knocked on a rock somewhere. 
 It never acted this way before." And all 
 the while he talked his fingers were busy 
 ripping out the jammed piece of film and 
 loading up afresh. 
 
 When Kearton declared himself ready. 
 Loveless, this time, had already taken 
 up his position to the north. Again the 
 Colonel waved his rope and shouted, and 
 when the right moment came Loveless 
 dashed past her and likewise roped her 
 round the neck. Again the beast slipped 
 the noose. 
 
 Here a rather strange thing happened. 
 [129] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 We had been told on many occasions 
 that in shooting Hons the beast will give 
 its attention to the man who has the 
 rifle, as if the instinct of the animal told 
 it which man to fear. Up to this mo- 
 ment the lioness had held off the horse- 
 men easily, but no sooner had she freed 
 herself from Loveless's rope than she fled 
 into the donga and hid herself in a thicket 
 of scrub and grass. For a time then it 
 seemed that nothing would move her 
 from out this scrub. The dogs were 
 finished. Men and horses were becom- 
 ing played out. Firecrackers and burn- 
 ing grass were used without result. 
 Eventually the Colonel fastened a forked 
 stick to his rope and dragged it across 
 her hiding-place to uncover her. This 
 maneuver partly succeeded — succeeded 
 enough, at least, for Loveless to throw 
 his rope at her. And at the sight of the 
 rope coming toward her through the air 
 [1301 
 
I n Africa 
 
 she hurled herself at him like a flash, so 
 that it was only the side jump of his 
 horse that saved him; then she turned 
 and broke away along the donga. 
 
 At once Means was after her, galloping 
 hard, for without the dogs there was 
 danger of our losing sight of her. 
 
 But the lioness did not run far. Her 
 next and last position was in the bed of a 
 small gully about three feet deep in the 
 bottom of the donga and thickly grown 
 with grasses. Here the ropers held a 
 brief consultation and planned a final 
 attempt. 
 
 Loveless made a throw and the noose 
 landed fairly above the beast's head, but 
 the thick grasses held it up. Loveless 
 passed the other end of his rope over the 
 branch of a near-by tree and down to the 
 horn of his saddle. 
 
 The rest of us, with the cameras 
 trained on the scene, had no knowledge 
 [131] 
 
Lassoing Wild Animals 
 
 of the plan. We had not the shghtest 
 idea what the Colonel intended to do. 
 Still wondering, we watched him pro- 
 cure a long pole and ride quietly along 
 the edge of the ditch toward the place 
 where the lioness crouched. 
 
 For a moment there was intense si- 
 lence. The Colonel stopped his horse. 
 Then, leaning over from his saddle, he 
 poked the noose down through the 
 grass. 
 
 With a roar the beast sprang at him 
 — sprang through the loop — and at the 
 other end of the rope Loveless yanked 
 quickly and caught her by the last hind 
 leg going through. Putting spurs to his 
 horse, Loveless galloped away, hauling 
 the lioness back across the gully and up 
 into the tree, where she swung to and 
 fro, dangling by the one hind foot and 
 snapping upward at the rope she could 
 not reach. 
 
 [132] 
 
In Africa 
 
 " Got her ! " yelled the Colonel. " Now 
 the rains can come when they like." 
 
 The beast was furious. She was still 
 swinging head down like a pendulum, 
 from the limb of the tree, and was toss- 
 ing her body about in frantic endeavor 
 to get loose. Means approached close 
 and deftly slipped a noose over one of 
 the wildly gyrating fore legs. Leading 
 his rope over the branch of another 
 tree, he stretched her out in a helpless 
 position parallel with the ground. 
 
 "Now lower away on both Hnes," said 
 the Colonel. 
 
 He dismounted and stood beneath her, 
 directing affairs as methodically as the 
 foreman of a construction gang. 
 
 "Steady, Means — a little more, Love- 
 less — now together — easy." 
 
 She came within his reach and with a 
 quick grab he caught and held her two 
 hind legs with both hands while Kear- 
 [133] 
 
Lassoing Wild A n i m a I s 
 
 ton bound them together with a piece of 
 hght hne. 
 
 The rest was easy. In less than five 
 minutes she was bound securely and low- 
 ered all the way to the ground to rest in 
 the shade. 
 
 It was nearly noon, and time to call 
 a halt to let the heat of the day pass 
 over before attempting to bring her 
 back to camp. Porters were sent to 
 fetch food and more water, horses were 
 off-saddled and turned loose to graze, 
 and one by one the dogs came straggling 
 in. 
 
 The men stretched themselves out 
 on the ground where a bush or a tree 
 afforded some protection from the sun. 
 But the Colonel kept wandering over to 
 the prize, to examine a knot, to arrange 
 a better shade, or to pour the last drops 
 of water from his canteen into her open 
 mouth. Once he stood over her for a 
 [134] 
 
In Africa 
 
 while, watching her vain attempts to 
 cut the ropes with her teeth. 
 
 "Yes, you're a beauty," he finally 
 said. "You're certainly a beauty. I 
 guess we'll just have to take you home 
 with us as a souvenir of the trip." 
 
 [135] 
 
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