CH. XII AN ADVENTURE WITH LIONS 143 



efforts to overtake. I fancy he would have had a 

 very warm reception if he had succeeded, as a full- 

 grown serval is by no means a despicable foe. 

 The cat, however, was too quick for him, and got 

 into the bush among the trees, where it was quite 

 hopeless to try and find it. 



During this chase, while galloping across a bit of 

 grassy plain, B. inadvertently dropped his field 

 glasses and did not discover his loss for some time. 

 As this was a serious matter in the wilds, we deter- 

 mined to have a good search for them next day. 

 Accordingly, in the morning we took practically the 

 whole safiiJ'i with us, and divided the country over 

 which we had travelled the previous day between 

 the men, spreading them in a line over it. They 

 were all very keen on the search, as a reward 

 of five rupees was promised to the man who should 

 find the glasses. The prize fell to a Masai who 

 had attached himself to us at Nyeri and who, with 

 Abbudi, was in the van. This man was so delighted 

 with the five rupees and considered himself so rich 

 thereby that he promptly left us and returned to 

 his manyatta (village), where no doubt there were 

 great rejoicings over his good fortune. 



We saw some hartebeeste, duiker, ostriches, and a 

 jackal on our day's march, and that night we camped 

 on the banks of the Guaso Nyiro, which is here but 

 a small stream having its source in the forest-clad 



