Maiwa’s Revenge · Chapter
II: A Morning’s Sport explained
Quatermain describes a beautiful African landscape and recounts a morning hunting expedition.
What happens
Quatermain describes a beautiful African landscape and recounts a morning hunting expedition. After tracking buffalo, he encounters a rhinoceros that charges him and his men. He kills the buffalo and later tracks and shoots the rhinoceros, reflecting on a successful morning's sport.
Themes in this chapter
Adventure and Survival
Quatermain's hunting expedition involves tracking dangerous game and surviving a rhinoceros charge.
Savagery versus Civilization
The hunt contrasts the 'civilized' hunter with the wild, untamed African landscape and animals.
Characters to notice
- Old Quatermain
Narrator and hunter; shoots a buffalo and a rhinoceros.
- Gobo
Quatermain's companion; shows fear during the hunt but assists afterward.
- Fate
Referenced by Gobo as walking loose in Wambe's country.
Key passages
“I determined to kill a buffalo, of which there were plenty about, before looking for traces of elephants.”
Quatermain decides to hunt a buffalo for meat before searching for elephants.
Sets the purpose of the morning's hunt.
“I had done a capital morning’s shooting.”
Quatermain reflects on a successful hunt.
Concludes the chapter with a sense of accomplishment.