CHAPTER VIII 



THE SETTIT RIVER 



December 29th. Marched 8 miles to Wad Heleu on 

 the Settit. Fired four shots at guinea-fowl, bagging 

 one. Saw a gazelle, but had not my rifle handy. 

 Found fresh tracks of lions in the approach to the 

 river, and made a machan in the afternoon, intending 

 to sit up for half an hour or so in the evening, and 

 leave the goat out all night. However, the goat 

 had hardly called for more than ten minutes before 

 it stopped calling, and began to stare fixedly to the 

 right of my machan, and after some ten minutes 

 more a lioness made a spring, killing the goat 

 instantly, and attempting to drag it off by the nape 

 of the neck. However, a -500 Express bullet through 

 the shoulder stopped the operation, and as she lay 

 sprawling, a second bullet through the side stretched 

 her dead beside the goat. Another lion started 

 calling some twenty minutes later, and as I had no 

 electric lamp I came down from the machan, 

 whistled up my men, sent for a camel to the camp, 

 which was only 500 yards off across the Settit, and 

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