MY ACQUAINTANCE WITH LIONS 71 
near the forest. One of the boys had seen a lion.' His 
whereabouts was discovered after much beating back 
and forth. I got my camera ready as before at the 
place the boys thought the fight would take place, 
but the lion did not do his part. He broke in a differ- 
ent direction and another bunch of spearmen got him 
two hundred yards away. It was so exasperating to 
have something prevent this most exciting of all movie 
photography from succeeding that I almost failed to 
appreciate the courage and skill of the spearmen. 
A few days later, soon after our start in the morn- 
ing, Mrs. Akeley and I were riding ahead of the pro- 
cession when we met several lions coming out of the 
grass and bush near a small stream. The spearmen 
immediately surrounded the bush into which the 
lions plunged. The lions tried to escape, but in what- 
ever direction any lion tried to go a spearman bobbed 
up out of the grass in front of him. ‘That is a simple 
statement, but to jump up in front of a lion or three 
lions with nothing but a spear and shield as protection 
is a thing not to be taken lightly. As the lions sought 
one escape after another, and found each closed, they 
fought it out. There was about ten minutes of pan- 
demonium. Then we took stock. Three dead lions 
gathered together in a pile; pretty authentic reports 
that two others escaped—and not a picture. 
At the next spearing, however, I did get two pic- 
tures. We were riding along early in the morning 
through arough bushcountry. All at once I heard a 
lion grunt. The gun boy held up his hand as a signal 
to stop. The camera was rushed forward to the bank 
