MY FIRST LION 83 
times when I had had an unusually long and useless tramp 
of it, that unlucky railroad engineer, running up and down 
the best lion country, in his spider with his rifle in front of 
him, yet never seeing a lion, would dismally recur to me. 
My friend was sympathy itself and even offered to lend me 
an Indian charm of potency immense, a notable chief had 
given him long ago. But he kept seeing lions and I didn’t. 
It was almost three weeks since we had so bunglingly rounded 
up J. J. W.’s first lion that I shot mine. 
We had made permanent camp near a fine spring of water, 
and in a most excellent game country, some twenty miles 
north of Sergoit. Five miles to the westward ran the deep 
valley of the Nzoia and across it rose the Elgao ridges. The 
grass on this bushy part of the country was by now beginning 
to grow long. The herds do much to keep it down, but 
especially among the thorn trees, in patches of a few acres, 
it would partly hide the smaller antelope, and it seemed 
to me that my chances of success lessened daily. One 
morning, after almost four hours’ hunting, about ten o’clock, 
I was riding near the edge of the great Nzoia valley, when 
suddenly I heard, or thought I heard, a low purring grunt. 
I stopped my gunbearers and questioned them. The Somali, 
Dooda, said it was only the mule, but Kongoni said simba, 
and I felt myself that it was szmba (lion). 
Now the lion makes a good many different noises (of that 
much debated question more anon). But this little social 
family circle grunt, is a most difficult sound to locate. In 
this respect and in this alone, it is like the very, what shall I 
say? “‘trying” grunt angry lions and lionesses give when 
they are near you in the grass. This may come from thirty 
yards away, and it may be at your very feet. And I say 
again, and advisedly, a cool man often cannot locate it at all. 
Then if anything can beat him, the repetition of that growling 
snarl coming from everywhere and nowhere surely will. 
After a good night’s hunting, lions like to dry off a bit in 
