st were the heavens, that when one happened to stand within one of
the great shadows it became extraordinarily difficult to make out game
on the plains. The pupils contracted to the brilliancy overhead. Often
too, near sunset, the atmosphere would become suffused with a lurid
saffron light that made everything unreal and ghastly. At such times
the game seemed puzzled by the unusual aspect of things. The zebra
especially would bark and stamp and stand their ground, and even come
nearer out of sheer curiosity. I have thus been within fifty yards of
them, right out in the open. At such times it was as though the sky,
instead of rounding over in the usual shape, had been thrust up at the
western horizon to the same incredible height as the zenith. In the
space thus created were piled great clouds through which slanted broad
bands of yellow light on a diminished world.

It rained with great suddenness on our devoted heads, and with a curious
effect of metamorphoslng the entire universe. One moment all was clear
and smiling, with the trifling exception of distant rain squalls that
amounted to nothing in the general scheme. Then the horizon turned
black, and with incredible swiftness the dark clouds materialized out of
nothing, rolled high to the zenith like a wave, blotted out every last
vestige of brightness. A heavy oppressive still darkness breathed over
the earth. Then through the silence came a faraway soft drumming sound,
barely to be heard. As we bent our ears to catch this it grew louder and
louder, approaching at breakneck speed like a troop of horses. It became
a roar fairly terrifying in its mercilessly continued crescendo. At last
the deluge of rain burst actually as a relief.

And what a deluge! Facing it we found difficulty in breathing. In six
seconds every stitch we wore was soaked through, and only the notebook,
tobacco, and matches bestowed craftily in the crown of the cork helmet
escaped. The visible world was dark and contracted. It seemed that
nothing but rain could anywhere exist; as though this storm must fill
all space to the horizon and beyond. Then it swept on and we found
ourselves steaming in bright sunlight. The dry flat prairie (if this
was the first shower for some time) had suddenly become a lake from the
surface of which projected bushes and clumps of grass. Every game trail
had become the water course of a swiftly running brook.

But most pleasant were the evenings at Juja, when, safe indoor