64 IN BRIGHTEST AFRICA 
opposite. I thought it was another “opi. As I 
raised myself a little to shoot I noticed that the origi- 
nal pair that I was hunting were gazing with fixed 
attention toward some movement on the far hillside. 
I looked again and saw an old lion get up and walk 
to the top of the hill, turn round facing me, and lie 
down to watch the valley from his side as I was watch- 
ing it from mine. We were about 400 yards from 
each other. In the valley between were the sop/, and 
also I noticed a dead zebra. Evidently I had dis- 
turbed him at his previous night’s kill. My pony 
and gun boys were some distance behind and I had 
only one cartridge left in my double-barrelled cordite 
rifle. Under these conditions I reluctantly decided 
to go back for proper equipment. My reluctance 
was not merely at losing a lion but at losing that 
particular lion, for he had a great black mane and no 
one had killed a black-maned lion in that part of 
Africa. 
By the time I got back with my cartridges and the 
gun boys, he had disappeared. We began beating 
about to see if we could find him or his trail, but with- 
out success. We did, however, find the remains of 
several kills, which led me to think that this single old 
fellow had found the neighbourhood good hunting, 
and was making a more or less prolonged stay. Un- 
der the circumstances I felt it wise to go to camp and 
get my companion, Shaw Kennedy, and our thirty 
beaters to hunt him out the next day. 
Before going, however, I planned a campaign. Not 
far from where the lion had been a ravine began, 
