WILD LIFE ACROSS THE WORLD 



As the hours went by it seemed as though we were 

 once more going to draw a blank. There had been no 

 sign of Hons, and the Hght was beginning to get poor. 

 Then the unexpected happened. I was about half-way 

 up the kopje side and was looking out over the plains. 

 Clark and Hill's nephew were on the level ground 

 about a hundred yards below us, amongst some fairly 

 dense thorn scrub on the edge of the plain. Hill was 

 beside me also scanning the bush and plain. 



Suddenly my boy gave a tug at my jacket and, 

 as is the way of the natives when they see game, 

 pointed at a spot immediately below us. I followed 

 the direction of the pointing finger. There, peering 

 through a thorn bush at our two comrades, was a large 

 lioness with two almost full-grown cubs by her side. 

 The animals were, at the very outside, twenty yards 

 away from the others, who had no suspicion of their 

 presence. At once I drew Hill's attention to the 

 lions, which had neither seen nor winded us, and at 

 first we could not decide what to do. One thing 

 was certain — we ought to warn our friends of their 

 danger. Hill hailed them. " Lions ! Shout ! " he 

 cried, thinking that they might scare the beasts and 

 cause them to run up within range of my camera. 

 Unfortunately, Clark misunderstood him (mistaking 

 " Shout" for "Shoot"), drew his revolver, and fired 

 several shots into the ground. It was a most dangerous 

 thing to have done, a direct invitation to the lioness 



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