206 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



We now rejoined Mearns and Loring on the banks 

 of the Guaso Nyero. They had collected hundreds of birds 

 and small mammals, among them several new species. We 

 had already heard that a Mr. Williams, whom we had met 

 at McMillan's ranch, had been rather badly mauled by a 

 lion, which he had mortally wounded, but which managed 

 to charge home. Now we found that Dr. Mearns had been 

 quite busily engaged in attending to cases of men who 

 were hurt by lions. Loring nearly got in the category. He 

 killed his lioness with a light automatic rifle, utterly unfit 

 for use against African game. Though he actually put a 

 bullet right through the beast's heart, the shock from the 

 blow was so slight that she was not stopped even for a sec- 

 ond; he hit her four times in all, each shot being mortal 

 for he was an excellent marksman, and she died nearly 

 at his feet, her charge carrying her several yards by him. 

 Mearns had galloped into a herd of wildebeest and killed 

 the big bull of the herd, after first running clean through 

 a mob of zebras, which, as he passed, skinned their long 

 yellow teeth threateningly at him, but made no attempt 

 actually to attack him. 



A settler had come down to trade with the Masai during 

 our absence. He ran into a large party of lions, killed two, 

 and wounded a lioness which escaped after mauling one 

 of his gun-bearers. The gun-bearer rode into camp, and 

 the Doctor treated his wounds. Next day Mearns was 

 summoned to a Masai kraal sixteen miles off to treat the 

 wounds of two of the Masai; it appeared that a body of 

 them had followed and killed the wounded lioness, but that 

 two of their number had been much maltreated in the fight. 

 One, especially, had been fearfully bitten, the lioness hav- 



