326 IN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKA chap. 



high granite rocks which hereabouts dot the 

 arid plain. They could hear him as he came closer 

 and closer, making his way towards the 7nanyatta 

 along the sandy bed of the Guaso Merele under the 

 gloomy shade of the trees which line its banks. 

 They thought little of this at the time, as there was 

 nothing unusual in the occurrence. He often 

 serenaded the manyatta without attempting to break 

 in, but on this night he was apparently hungrier, 

 and therefore more savage, than usual. After a time 

 the roars ceased and there was complete silence. 

 The old crones sitting by the fireside were dozing 

 off to sleep, when suddenly they and the whole 

 encampment were aroused by the noise and uproar 

 caused by the man-eater springing on to one of the 

 flimsy huts which encircled the wall of the manyatta, 

 and crashing through on to the unconscious sleepers 

 beneath. 



Terrified screams rent the air, and the next 

 moment the brute was seen emerging through the 

 low doorway of the hut, with the writhing elder 

 gripped firmly in his vice-like jaws. He quickly 

 disappeared with him through the bush-filled opening 

 of the boma, among the stampeding cattle and amid 

 the terrified yells of the Rendile tribesmen. It was 

 a great piece of misfortune that the lion should 

 have chosen an old and rickety roof to jump on 



