THE LION 207 



— so although without any idea of a shot, feeHng quite comfort- 

 able and lazy I thought I would try and experiment. At 10.30 

 the boy waked me and said they were all lying asleep — and 

 through my glasses I saw that three out of the four were really 

 fast asleep — only one — the lioness — lying head on paws looking our 

 way. So I told the boy to go to sleep and took up the watch myself. 

 Presently the lioness got up — stretched — walked 20 yards or so 

 and again lay down — this time broadside on — and then to my 

 joy her head gradually rolled over until she too was flat on the 

 bare plain like a great dog. Now you can imagine that in that 

 almost flat plain to be able to see the lions properly, when lying 

 on their sides, two miles, not much in the way of grass obstructed 

 the view, but a finished piece of cunning on their part eventually 

 aided me. They had chosen for their resting place the top of a 

 very slight rise, which commanded a view of the country all 

 round, rather like this: — 



but by going back and making a detour like arrows -*- A I was 

 able to take advantage of about half a mile of longer grass, and get 

 to point (i) before the old lioness got suspicious. Here she got 

 up suddenly and I dropped flat and lay still for half an hour. 

 At the end of that time as she was still on the qui vive (I've marked 

 her ® to distinguish her from the other sleepy ones) I took an- 

 other nap, this time for an hour. At the end of that time, she 

 was fast asleep again and then came the tug of war. Another 

 100 yards of my long grass (up till then about 2 feet long) and 

 the ground was devoid of cover except for very scanty grass 

 well-fed-down and the whole absolutely commanded by the little 

 rise where the lions lay. By filling my hat with grass, as did my 



