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The Land of Footprints-Part41_Stewart Edward White(1873-1946)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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when, as in the Sunday Supplements, I Stared Death in the

Face-also everlastingdisgrace and much derision. We were just



returning to the farm after an afternoon's walk, and as we

approached I began to look around for much needed meat. A herd of



zebra stood in sight; so leaving Memba Sasa I began to stalk

them. My usual weapon for this sort of thing was the Springfield,



for which I carried extra cartridges in my belt. On this

occasion, however, I traded with Memba Sasa for the 405, simply



for the purpose of trying it out. At a few paces over three

hundred yards I landed on the zebra, but did not knock him down.



Then I set out to follow. It was a long job and took me far, for

again and again he joined other zebra, when, of course, I could



not tell one from t'other. My only expedient was to frighten the

lot. There upon the uninjured ones would distance the one that



was hurt. The latter kept his eye on me. Whenever I managed to

get within reasonable distance, I put up the rear sight of the



405, and let drive. I heard every shot hit, and after each hit

was more than a little astonished to see the zebra still on his



feet, and still able to wobble on.* The fifth shot emptied the

rifle. As I had no more cartridges for this arm, I approached to



within sixty yards, and stopped to wait either for him to fall,

or for a very distant Memba Sasa to come up with more cartridges.



Then the zebra waked up. He put his ears back and came straight

in my direction. This rush I took for a blind death flurry, and



so dodged off to one side, thinking that he would of course go by

me. Not at all! He swung around on the circle too, and made after



me. I could see that his ears were back, eyes blazing, and his

teeth snapping with rage. It was a maliciouscharge, and, as



such, with due deliberation, I offer it to sportsman's annals. As

I had no more cartridges I ran away as fast as I could go.



Although I made rather better time than ever I had attained to

before, it was evident that the zebra would catch me; and as the



brute could paw, bite, and kick, I did not much care for the

situation. Just as he had nearly reached me, and as I was trying



to figure on what kind of a fight I could put up with a clubbed

rifle barrel, he fell dead. To be killed by a lion is at least a



dignified death; but to be mauled by a zebra!

I am sorry I did not try out this heavy-calibred rifle oftener



at long range. It was a marvellously effectiveweapon at close

quarters; but I have an idea-but only a tentative idea-that



above three hundred yards its velocity is so reduced by air

resistance against the big blunt bullet as greatly to impair its



hitting powers.

We generally got back from our walks or rides just before dark



to find the house gleaming with lights, a hot bath ready, and a

tray of good wet drinks next the easy chairs. There, after



changing our clothes, we sipped and read the papers-two months

off the press, but fresh arrived for all that-until a



white-robed, dignified figure appeared in the doorway to inform

us that dinner was ready. Our ways were civilized and soft, then,



until the morrow when once again, perhaps, we went forth into the

African wilderness.



Juja is a place of startlingcontrasts-of naked savages clipping

formal hedges, of windows opening from a perfectly appointed



brilliantly lighted dining-room to a night whence float the lost

wails of hyenas or the deep grumbling of lions, of cushioned



luxurious chairs in reach of many books, but looking out on hills

where the game herds feed, of comfortable beds with fine linen



and soft blankets where one lies listening to the voices of an

African night, or the weirder minor house noises whose origin and



nature no man could guess, of tennis courts and summer houses, of

lawns and hammocks, of sundials and clipped hedges separated only



by a few strands of woven wire from fields identical with those

in which roamed the cave men of the Pleistocene. But to Billy was



reserved the most ridiculouscontrast of all. Her bedroom opened

to a veranda a few feet above a formal garden. This was a very






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