52 IN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKA chap. 



In this way we progressed very slowly in the 

 misty moonshine until dawn began to break, when 

 all at once we discovered that we were right in the 

 midst of a herd of about 200 zebra. They seemed 

 more curious than startled at our sudden appear- 

 ance, and gave S. an easy shot, so that he was 

 enabled to bring down his first zebra. 



Leaving a man to take the skin off and cut up 

 the meat, which is considered delicious by the 

 porters on account of the abundance of fat, we 

 pushed on ahead, still following the roar of the lion ; 

 but when we had gone on another half mile or so 

 we found that we were quite unable to locate the 

 direction from which the muffled sound came. 

 It seemed to be now to the right of us, now to the 

 left of us, now in front of us. We therefore agreed 

 to separate, having first marked out a conical hill 

 as a meeting-place later on. I gave S. his choice 

 and he took the left-hand route, while I made a 

 detour to the right. 



I continued my way along devious animal tracks 

 and byways, up and down banks and among 

 nullahs, through woods and over hillocks, and at 

 last arrived at the landmark agreed upon without 

 having seen anything of importance. Here I 

 waited some considerable time for S., but as he did 

 not turn up I thought I would go on a little further. 

 From the hillock on which I stood I could see the 



