BLANK DAYS 



it slopes over the fire, and the meat takes its chance of 

 being smoked, charred or undercooked. 



On the second day we spent hours by the beacon 

 waiting for a SomaH to come in and announce that 

 the lions had been found. It was a weary job for us 

 as well as for the Masai spearmen, who were all eager 

 for the excitement of killing one of the animals 

 they hated so bitterly. There was great rivalry 

 amongst them as to who should actually be the 

 conqueror. However, when evening came we had 

 to record another blank, a fact which was not good 

 for the nerves of anyone, either black or white. The 

 Masai especially were impatient. All the enthusiasm 

 engendered by the war-dance seemed to have died 

 away, and they were quite ready to throw up the 

 whole thing. But Berkeley Cole went out and talked 

 to them, and after a while their good humour returned. 



We decided, however, to move camp next morning 

 and try some other ground. We started in good 

 time, and as we were all mounted now, including Cole, 

 myself, and Major Carnegie, who had come along to 

 see the wonderful exploits of the Masai, travelling was 

 quite easy. After a rest for lunch on the banks 

 of a tiny river we ascended a small hill, from the 

 top of which we could look out over a vast plain. We 

 had no sooner reached the summit than we felt that 

 all our trouble had been worth while, for there but a 

 short distance from us was our much-longed-for 



13 193 



