Sport in East Africa. 321 



off so I deferred my visit to them till the morrow. 

 About three I walked back to where we had left the 

 remains of the water buck. Eemoving the debris we 

 had put over it, the shikarie and I hid ourselves 

 behind some boulders of rocks, which formed a very 

 respectable cache within easy shooting distance. We 

 had not been there five minutes, nor had the carcase 

 been uncovered more than ten minutes, when, with a 

 whirl, with closed wings, shot down a vulture, and then 

 another and another ! I was for driving them away, 

 but my sable companion made signs to leave them 

 alone. I thought the obscene birds would pick the 

 skeleton clean in a few minutes, but their chattering 

 and fighting and the noise made by them when darting 

 through the air, I suppose roused the lion, and he 

 must have crept up so noiselessly, that the first 

 intimation we had of his presence was the flight of 

 the birds. Looking up, over our barrier, there stood 

 a magnificent lion not fifteen paces away. A shell 

 behind the shoulder dropped him dead, I heard a rush 

 and just got sight of the tip of the tail of another 

 lion or lioness, as it ran back into cover. If I had 

 waited, I have no doubt I should have got both. 

 Thinking there was just a chance of the one who had 

 retreated coming back later on, we dragged the one 

 slain aside (it was as much as we could do jointly), 

 and covered it up. I sent the man back to camp 

 with orders to return by dark with men, and then 

 ensconced myself again, but the filthy birds returned, 

 no feline put in an appearance, and long before the 

 porters arrived there was not an ounce of flesh left on 

 the bones. The lion not having been seen, although 

 not twenty feet away, was unmolested by the 



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