I had known that I would not find Morel alone. I knew that Africa still had plenty of those adventurers always ready to jump at a chance to break the law — to rob, pillage, and in general live a life of freedom.’ Our continent has not yet lost all its attraction for men who feel free only with a gun in their hand.

All who come to me with help are welcome. Nationalism, you know — whether it's white hunters or black hunters, the old ones or the new ones — I’m against 'em all. I'm on the side of anyone who will take the necessary steps.'[...]He added as if incidentally, 'I was in the Resistance, during the Occupation. I fought not so much to defend France against Germany, but to defend elephants against hunters.

To the people, Morel was the hero of a cause that had nothing to do with nations and political ideologies, a cause that had nothing to do with Africa and touched what was deepest in them — a secret rancor — a confused dream of being able one day to emerge victorious from the difficulty of being a man. They were staking a claim to respectful and decent treatment.

He had himself a certain sympathy for Morel; unfortunately, the man had not understood that the world of today was no longer capable of concerning itself with elephants. People had other preoccupations. They were no longer interested in anything except their own skins.