XXIII 

 THE BIG LION 



THE boys skinned her while we ate lunch. 

 Then we started several of them back toward 

 camp with the trophy, and ourselves cut across 

 country to a small river known as the Stony Athi. 

 There we dismounted from our horses, and sent 

 them and the boys atop the ridge above the stream, 

 while we ourselves explored afoot the side hill along 

 the river. 



This was a totally different sort of country from 

 that to which we had been accustomed. Imagine 

 a very bouldery side hill planted thickly with knee- 

 high blackberry vines and more sparsely with higher 

 bushes. They were not really blackberry vines, 

 of course, but their tripping, tangling, spiky quali- 

 ties were the same. We had to force our way 

 through these, or step from boulder to boulder. 

 Only very rarely did we get a little rubbly clear 

 space to walk in, and then for only ten or twenty 

 feet. We tried in spaced intervals to cover the 

 whole side hill. It was very hard work. The boys, 



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