XXII A RHINO CONCERT 289 



settled satisfactorily on both sides, I made some 

 coffee for the local chief Lemerlene, who greatly 

 appreciated it, and was especially pleased with the 

 sugar with which it was sweetened. After he had 

 gulped down the first few mouthfuls he rubbed his 

 stomach comfortably and said he hoped I would 

 make a lot more, as he could spend the rest of his 

 life drinking stuff such as this. He then called up 

 some of the men of his tribe and grudgingly gave 

 them a sip out of his cup ; he would not on any 

 account trust it out of his hands. 



The end of it was that I made a large potful of 

 coffee and gave them some all round, which hugely 

 delighted them and greatly cemented our friendship. 

 Before taking leave, Lemerlene warned us to be 

 on our guard against man-eating lions, as there 

 was one lurking about in the neighbourhood that 

 had takeri a man out of a manyatta a few nights 

 previously. 



We soon found that the old chief's warning 

 was well-timed, because soon after dark the man- 

 eater appeared and made a dash at one of the 

 donkey-boys, who, however, fortunately eluded 

 him. The whole safari was on the alert, and 

 made such an uproar that the lion got confused 

 and cleared off, only to return a couple of hours 

 later to stalk our own tents. 



I had not yet gone to bed and was sitting outside 



u 



