XIII " LOOK AT THE LIONS ! " 283 



of his skin and carcase I have given in another place, 

 I now halloed for the Kafirs, and at last saw two 

 running towards me. Great was their surprise upon 

 finding me standing over the body of a magnificent 

 lion, instead of, as they had expected, a wretched 

 tsessebe antelope, I was stooping over my prize, 

 toying with the mane, when one of the boys, seizing 

 me by the shoulder, cried excitedly, "Look, look, 

 sir ! look at the lions ! " Hastily raising my eyes, 

 and following the direction of his outstretched hand, 

 a sight met my eyes that made my heart jump. At 

 a distance of not more than 250 yards from where 

 we stood, three great lionesses were stalking slowly 

 across a little open glade, walking in single file, one 

 behind another. At the heels of the hindmost ran 

 three little cubs, not much bigger than cats. As the 

 grass had been burnt off just here, 1 had a splendid 

 view of their massive thick-set forms, but wasted no 

 time in looking at them. Hastily mounting my 

 horse, I cantered past behind them just as they 

 entered a patch of bush. The sun was now down, 

 so there was no time to lose, there being but a short 

 allowance of twilight in these latitudes. I now 

 walked my horse along within the bush parallel to 

 the lions, which, although they were not sixty yards 

 off", did not appear to notice me. The grass, however, 

 not having been burnt off" within the bush, was so 

 long that I could only just see the outline of their 

 backs. Soon the foremost lioness walked slowly 

 over the sloping side of an enormous grass-covered 

 ant-heap, exposing her massive shape well to my 

 view. As I hastily dismounted she observed me, 

 and turning her head stood looking at me, but with- 

 out moving her body. The next moment 1 fired, 

 and rolled her down the sloping ant-heap with her 



