Chapter One
Things were not too simple in this safari because things had changed very
much in East Africa. The white hunter had been a close friend of mine for many
years. I respected him as I had never respected my father and he trusted me,
which was more than I deserved. It was, however, something to try to merit. He
had taught me by putting me on my own and correcting me when I made mistakes.
When I made a mistake he would explain it. Then if I did not make the same
mistake again he would explain a little more. But he was nomadic and he was
finally leaving us because it was necessary for him to be at his farm, which is
what they call a twenty-thousand-acre cattle ranch in Kenya. He was a very
complicated man compounded of absolute courage, all the good human weaknesses
and a strangely subtle and very critical understanding of people. He was
completely dedicated to his family and his home and he loved much more to live
away from them. He loved his home and his wife and his children.
"Do you have any problems?"
"I don't want to make a fool of myself with elephants."
"You'll learn."
"Anything else?"
"Know everybody knows more than you but you have to make t ... read full excerpt from: True at First Light: A Fictional Memoir ebook
