THE SETTIT RIVEE 147 



killed and half eaten, concealed under a thorn-tree. 

 This seemed to offer a good chance of securing this 

 cunning brute, so I decided to erect another machan 

 over the kill. The nearest suitable tree was 50 yards 

 off, but while the men were fetching my portable 

 machan from camp, I sat in a thorn-tree close to the 

 kill, in case the lion should be still in the vicinity. 

 Nothing stirred, however, and by 1 p.m. I had the new 

 machan ready and a bad headache into the bargain. 

 I then returned to camp and re-charged the electric 

 battery. At 4 p.m. I came back to the machan, with 

 the intention of making a night of it. 



January 30th. Nothing stirred until, as I judged, 

 about 10 p.m., when I heard what could only have 

 been the lion come along the drag of the dead koodoo, 

 right up to its new position. So far as I was able to 

 judge, the lion stood close to the kill for fully half 

 an hour, and then sniffed at it ; but I had pre- 

 viously made up my mind not to stir till he actually 

 began to eat, as the least movement during the 

 process of reconnoitring is almost invariably detected, 

 and this lion was clearly particularly wide awake. 

 The sequel was, however, disappointing, as my first 

 intimation that anything was wrong was the challenge 

 of the monkeys in the lion's regular path along 

 the river half a mile off ; and when another hour 

 passed without a movement, I turned on the light, 

 and found no trace of the lion at all. I myself was 



