AFRICAN CAMP FIRES 



crawl up to our bait through the wet, cold grass, but 

 with no results. That very night we were jerked 

 from a sound sleep by a tremendous roar almost in 

 camp. So close was it that it seemed to each of 

 us but just outside the tent. We came up all stand- 

 ing. The lion, apparently, was content with that 

 practical joke, for he moved off quietly. Next 

 morning we found where the tracks had led down to 

 water, not ten yards away. 



We spent the rest of that day spying on the game 

 herds. It is fascinating work, to lie belly down on a 

 tall ant-hill, glasses steadied by elbows, picking out 

 the individual animals and discussing them low- 

 voiced with a good companion. Cuninghame and I 

 looked over several hundred hartebeeste, trying to 

 decide their identity. We were neither of us familiar 

 with the animal and had onlyrecoUections of the book 

 distinctions. Finally I picked out one that seemed 

 to present the most marked characteristics — and 

 missed him clean at 280 yards. Then I took three 

 shots at 180 yards to down a second choice. The 

 poor shooting was forgotten, however, in our deter- 

 mination that this was indeed Neumann. 



A vain hunt for lions occupied all the next day. 

 The third morning Cuninghame started for the boma, 

 leaving Billy and me to look about us as we willed. 

 Shortly after he had departed a delegation of Masai 



348 



