There was freedom in it, and the glorious feeling that every step he took he was carrying his life in his hand.

And not only was life menaced by the bullets and assegais of Matabele lurking in the tall yellow grass, but there was considerable danger, though of a more humorous order, even in the taking of a bath, as B.-P.

discovered in going down to a pool and spotting just in time a leering crocodile in the reeds.

Lions, too, were stumbled upon in clumps, just as in peaceful England one walks upon a covey of partridges.

Then, lying down one day after dinner for a nap, B.-P.
discovered on awaking that a snake had selected precisely the same spot for its own siesta.