THE LION 13 



so that I might the more easily follow him up the next 

 day. I tied up my donkey about two hundred yards from my 

 own zareba, so imagine my surprise when I was awakened in the 

 middle of the night by my servant shouting " Libah, libah ! " A 

 great rushing noise followed by a cloud of dust close to me made 

 me jump to my feet, only to find my old friend the donkey 

 standing close up against the zareba with a small uprooted tree by 

 his side. 



Next morning, on examining the spot where the donkey had 

 been tied, we found innumerable lion pugmarks all round where 

 the unfortunate donkey had been tied. In his frantic efforts to 

 save himself the donkey had eventually succeeded in uprooting 

 the small tree to which he was tied, and without a moment's 

 hesitation made a straight line for camp, dragging the tree, and 

 followed for a short way by the lion. The lion hadn't merely 

 come up and walked round the donkey ; marks were visible 

 where he had sat down within a few yards of him and wisked the 

 sand with his tail, in his pleasure at the toothsome morsel so close 

 within his grasp. 



