There The Drainage Seemed Sufficient To Carry
Off The Excess.
Elsewhere the hardpan or bedrock must have been
exceptionally level and near the top of the ground.
Nothing nor nobody seemed to mind this much. The game splashed
around merrily, cropping at the tall grass; the natives slopped
indifferently, and we ourselves soon became so accustomed to two
or three inches of water and wet feet that after the first two
days we never gave those phenomena a thought.
The world above at this season of the year was magnificent. The
African heavens are always widely spacious, but now they seemed
to have blown even vaster than usual. In the sweep of the vision
four or five heavy black rainstorms would be trailing their
skirts across an infinitely remote prospect; between them white
piled scud clouds and cumuli sailed like ships; and from them
reflected so brilliant a sunlight and behind all showed so
dazzling a blue sky that the general impression was of a fine
day. The rainstorms' gray veils slanted; tremendous patches of
shadow lay becalmed on the plains; bright sunshine poured
abundantly its warmth and yellow light.
So brilliant with both direct and reflected light and the values
of contrast 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.
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