WILD LIFE ACROSS THE WORLD 



When morning came I went over to see the new 

 arrival, whom I found very elated and beaming with 

 pride at the sight of two dead lions lying within ten 

 and thirty yards respectively of the embers of the 

 fire. 



" There were at least six of them," he said. " I 

 saw their eyes gleaming in the darkness, but now 

 there are two less." 



The following day I went out quail-shooting close 

 to the aerodrome with a brother officer who had just 

 arrived, and of course we were only armed with shot- 

 guns. As usually happens when two men go for a 

 shooting expedition in the African bush, we soon lost 

 sight of one another. The grass and the bush were 

 not very high, but quite high enough, as I afterwards 

 discovered, to hide a lion. 



Anyhow, before I had time to dwell on this fact 

 I found myself face to face with one. Fortunately, 

 I saw him first. He was coming round a small bush, 

 when we met. It was an awkward moment for both 

 of us. Just as I caught sight of him he stopped, in 

 fact we both stopped, at the same second. He looked 

 me straight in the eyes. I returned the compHment. 



My shot-gun was in my hand, but I stood as 

 motionless as a statue, for I knew that the slightest 

 movement would be tantamount to signing my own 

 death warrant. 



So we still looked at each other. 



232 



