THE LION— KING OF BEASTS 



where they frequently have had the excitement of losing 

 one of their " comrades." Someone has said that the ani- 

 mals seem to understand that, as soon as one of them 

 has been killed, the others are safe for that night at least, 

 and so they often continue to drink and feed as if nothing 

 at all had happened. I have also noticed that in the early 

 morning the animals seem to have no dread whatsoever of 

 the lions. 



Once on a march over the Sotik plains with the whole 

 caravan, the second gun bearer stopped me and, pointing 

 a little to the left, said : " Bwana, tasama simba wawili 

 huko " (" Sir, look out, there are two lions over there.") 

 Turning in that direction, I first only saw a number of 

 Coke's hartebeest and some smaller gazelles quietly feed- 

 ing, and did not believe that the gun bearer could be right. 

 As he insisted that the lions were there, I took the strong 

 field glasses and saw, to my amazement and joy, three full- 

 grown lions, stretched out on the ground, not fifty yards 

 away from the nearest antelopes, which must have passed 

 even much closer to the lions, judging from the way they 

 were feeding ! 



Were the antelopes perhaps intelligent enough to know 

 that the lions, having had their " fill " during the night, 

 would not attack them in the daytime ? Or could they have 

 known that lions after a hearty meal are unable to run 

 fast enough to catch an antelope? This is indeed a fact, 

 for I had soon bagged the largest of the trio, a splendid, 

 black-maned lion, which was too full to run very fast and 

 long, its stomach being filled with zebra meat, bones, and 

 pieces of striped skin. It may be remarked here that 

 neither lion, leopard, nor cheetah seems to be able to run 



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