Thinking black; 22 years without a break in the long grass of Central ...

460 THINKING BLACK
compliments upon him, punctuated with hand-clapping.
The boy had heard that elephants were coming to drink
at an adjacent river, so setting out with his brother he
struck their trail leading to water. Taking advantage of
an overhanging high tree, he climbed and set a trap -spear
overhead, the missile of death pointing *' dead-on " the
elephant's trail leading to water. But how was he to
make sure that the spear as it crashed down would pierce
a vital spot ? This he planned most slyly. Climbing the
tree with a small gourd of water, he asked his brother to
stand with back bent full in the trail below. And now
for the stroke of genius. He forthwith proceeds to sight
the spear by aiming at his brother s backbone with the
dripping water : drip ! drip ! until a drop finally struck
the backbone. What next ? The heavy spear is now
aimed " dead," and the youth descends, as he naively puts
it, " to see what God will do with a boy's spear." Sure
enough, a brief hour sees the whole boyish plot crowned
with fruition. Shivering with fear, the crash of approach-
ing elephants is heard, and the monster bull, as it trumpets
near the water, receives its death-blow from the descending
barbed spear. The negroes glory in that filthy, frothy
meat, but it is not edible to Europeans. It would need
not a cook, but a magician, to prepare it. The ivory is
valued at sixty guineas. But King Leopold's long arm
reaches out for all the ivory, the resultant revenue to
be nobly devoted to charity—the charity that begins at
home.
Ranging the Lake with your eye in April, you can