THE LAST FRONTIER 



difference of the game to his presence then. From 

 a hill we watched three of these beasts wandering leis- 

 urely across the plains below. A herd of kongonis 

 feeding directly in their path, merely moved aside 

 right and left, quite deliberately, to leave a passage 

 fifty yards or so wide, but otherwise paid not the 

 slightest attention. I have several times seen this 

 incident, or a modification of it. And yet, conversely, 

 on a number of occasions we have received our 

 first intimation of the presence of lions by the wild 

 stampeding of the game away from a certain spot. 



However, the most of his hunting is done by dark. 

 Between the hours of sundown and nine o'clock he 

 and his comrades may be heard uttering the deep 

 coughing grunt typical of this time of night. These 

 curious, short, far-sounding calls may be mere evi- 

 dences of intention, or they may be a sort of signal 

 by means of which the various hunters keep in 

 touch. After a little they cease. Then one is 

 quite likely to hear the petulant, alarmed barking 

 of zebra, or to feel the vibrations of many hoofs. 

 There is a sense of hurried, flurried uneasiness abroad 

 on the veldt. 



The lion generally springs on his prey from be- 

 hind or a little off the quarter. By the impetus of 

 his own weight he hurls his victim forward, doubling 

 its head under, and very neatly breaking its neck, 



132 



