Ill ON SAFARI 31 



on this march in spite of its vigorous struggles to 

 escape, but when we reached the junction of the 

 Nairobi and the Athi, we left it at a prosperous 

 ranch close by. The hospitable owner himself 

 happened to be away at the time, but his agent 

 kindly undertook the care of it for us until we 

 should call for it on our return journey. 



As there was plenty of game in this neighbour- 

 hood, S. and Mrs. S. went out to try their luck and 

 succeeded in bagging a couple of trophies, while I 

 went towards the Machakos hills to explore the 

 country and make notes. We all joined forces 

 before dusk, and as we were riding back to camp 

 in the darkness I saw an animal, which I took to be 

 a lion, crouching in our path some ten yards ahead. 

 Shouting " Look out ! " I levelled my rifle without 

 dismounting and fired. The noise and flash 

 frightened the beast whatever it was, but from the 

 clumsy way in which it galloped off, I came to the 

 conclusion that it was an ant-bear, an animal 

 only seen at dusk or on a moonlight night, and but 

 rarely even then. Indeed in all my travels and 

 wanderings both by day and night, I only once 

 previously came across an ant-bear, and that was 

 near Bloemfontein during the Boer War. 



Next morning we started off from Mdoum-too-a- 

 Guaso soon after sunrise and marched through the 

 plain, among large herds of antelope and zebra 



