The Track of the Lion. 155 



accompanied by the '' Baboon," Lee and I proceed- 

 ing towards ^lonnt Towlu, whicli rose from the 

 plain in soHtary grandeur to an altitude of about 

 5000 ft, above the level of the sea, six miles dis- 

 tant from our camp. I passed a profitless day, 

 seeing nothing but a couple of koodoo cows, at 

 which Lee got a snap-shot. I saw, hoAvever, some 

 objects of interest. AVe came across a fine big 

 mahogany tree covered Avith seed pods. These 

 seed pods resemble a xevy large locust bean, and 

 the covering is like old Ijlack shoe-leather. On 

 opening them you find, ai'ranged in beautiful 

 order, about eight or nine seeds in shape like 

 acorns, the cup being the brightest scarlet, the 

 berry ebony l^lack. Crossing a sandy patch, Lee 

 pointed out to me the spoor of t^vo lions, which he 



said was about two davs old, I now jjciran slio-htlv 



00,/ 



to realize that one miglit come across a lion some 

 of these shooting days, as to which I had lieen for 

 some reason or other rather incredulous. Thirty- 

 six hours from this time I was destined to have all 

 doubts as to the existence of lions dissipated in 

 a startling and not altogether agreeable manner. 

 I got back to camp very tii'ed about foui" in the 

 afternoon, and found that Captain Williams had 

 been equally unsuccessful, having only had a long 

 and difficult shot at a hartebeest, and a bootless 

 chase after a sable antelope. Our ill-luck did not 

 prevent us from making an excellent dinner off 

 stewed roan antelope of our oAvn cooking. During 

 our absence our camp had been moved in an 

 easterlv direction, some three and a half miles 



