CHAPTER XXIII. 



A SPLENDID TROPHY THE GIANT KINGFISHER. 



CIGAR, like many great men with vast experience, 

 hesitated to offer an opinion until appealed to. 

 With such an authority as I knew he was, I 

 doubted the propriety of expressing my ideas, so 

 asked him his suspicions upon the matter. His 

 answer was, " I don't know this country, but, from 

 my knowledge of lions gained elsewhere, I should 

 say the old chief was right." This response decided 

 the question in dispute, so off we went en masse to 

 the pond indicated. The banks of the vley were 

 muddy, and the water, from evaporation, was sunk 

 considerably below the level of the adjoining country. 

 The goats and sheep of the neighbouring village 

 had trampled its edges most thoroughly the previous 

 evening, but over their track, in the sticky and 

 adhesive soil, was easily distinguished the broad 

 footprints of the animal we sought. More than 

 that, to confirm our belief that we were on the 

 spoor of the right beast, a few splashes of blood 

 were found adhering to the scanty herbage that 



