230 UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



then I heard some of my men call out, that the lions were in 

 front of me. In fact, at the critical moment, when I would have 

 seen them, I had turned round. A lion and a lioness, peacefully 

 reposing in the grass, had been disturbed by my approach, and 

 were now trotting off towards some high grass a few hundred 

 yards away. I had barely time to fire three shots from the 

 magazine rifle at their receding figures. The first two shots fell 

 short, but my third shot, put at 300 yards, threw up the dust 

 close to the left hind-leg of the lion. The shots did not ap- 

 parently disturb their equanimity. After my third shot they 

 stopped for a second to look at us. Before 1 could try a fourth 

 shot, the pair had disappeared in the long grass, where it would 

 have been foolhardy to follow them. The donkey-boy told me, 

 that when he was bringing my riding-donkey to meet me, the 

 d^onkey suddenly broke loose and galloped back to the camp. 

 He had to return to fetch it, and leading it once more along, he 

 and the others saw the lions which had terrified the donkey. 

 That night we heard lions growling round the camp, but no one 

 was attacked. 



On my second visit to Fajao, our farthest military station 

 towards the north, another lion incident fell to my lot. It was 

 on the 25th November 1897. I had arrived in the early morn- 

 ing, and having attended to my medical duties, went in the 

 afternoon unarmed for a walk to a narrow rocky gully which 

 winds through the wood. Suddenly I observed the fresh foot- 

 prints of a lion in the moist sandy patches between the rocks. 

 The footprints of a young one by its side showed it must be 

 a lioness with her cub. The tracks were so fresh, that it was 

 evident the beasts had been disturbed by my approach, and 

 had just passed ahead. I had never heard of any lions being 

 in this immediate neighbourhood, and it was not pleasant to 

 find myself unarmed and in such proximity to them. I retraced 

 my steps pretty sharp, and beat a hurried retreat, thanking 

 Providence for bringing me safely back to the station. I told 

 the men what I had seen, and I inquired if they knew, that 

 there were lions so near to us. I received the disturbing news, 

 that a man-eating lion had harassed the neighbouring Wanyoro 

 village for the past month, and that it had carried oh four 

 of the villagers. The inhabitants had deserted their homes en 

 masse, and had fled for safety to another village ; but hitherto 

 the man-eater had not visited the Soudanese settlement. 



