"These People," Said Darwin To Himself, "On The Whole, And As An
Average, Seem To Give Me Appropriate And Pleasing Gifts.
To be
sure, it is always well to see that they don't try to bunco me
with olive stones or such worthless trash, but still I believe
they are worth cultivating and standing in with."
""It strikes me," observed Funny Face to himself, "that my
adorable Memsahib and my beloved bwana have been very kind to me
to-day, though I don't remember precisely how. But I certainly do
love them!"
We cut good sized holes on each of the four sides of their chop
box to afford them ventilation on the march. The box was always
carried on one of the safari boy's heads: and Funny Face and
Darwin gazed forth with great interest. It was very amusing to
see the big negro striding jauntily along under his light burden;
the large brown winking eyes glued to two of the apertures. When
we arrived in camp and threw the box cover open, they hopped
forth, shook themselves, examined their immediate surroundings
and proceeded to take a little exercise. When anything alarmed
them, such as the shadow of a passing hawk, they skittered madly
up the nearest thing in sight-tent pole, tree, or human form-
and scolded indignantly or chittered in a low tone according to
the degree of their terror. When Funny Face was very young,
indeed, the grass near camp caught fire. After the excitement was
over we found him completely buried in the straw of his box,
crouched, and whimpering like a child.
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