xvm. 



THE FIRST LIONESS. 



AC an early hour we loaded our bedding, food, 

 tents, and camp outfit on a two-wheeled 

 wagon drawn by four of the humpbacked native 

 oxen, and sent it away across the plains, with 

 instructions to make camp on a certain kopje. 

 Clifford Hill and myself, accompanied by our 

 gunbearers and syces, then rode leisurely down 

 the length of a shallow brushy canon for a mile 

 or so. There we dismounted and sat down to 

 await the arrival of the others. These includ- 

 ing Harold Hill, Captain D., five or six Wakamba 

 spearmen, our own carriers, and the dogs came 

 along more slowly, beating the bottoms on the 

 off chance of game. 



The sun was just warming, and the bees and 

 insects were filling the air with their sleepy dron- 

 ing sounds. The hillside opposite showed many 

 little outcrops of rocks so like the hills of our own 

 Western States that it was somewhat difficult 



