A Morning with Lions 79 



on the other hand, if lions come they will not dare to 

 touch the animal, for fear of a trap. At all events, at 

 daybreak we advance over the damp ground without 

 making the least noise, proceeding to the spot where 

 I have left the body, about twenty minutes' distance 

 from the camp. The weather is gloomy, the sky 

 black, a very fine rain is falling, and a cold, damp 



north wind beats our faces. We arrive through the 



~ 



tall grass leeward of the spot, and without drawing 

 too near get on to a hillock to look around. . . . We 

 left the buffalo on the previous day in the middle of 

 a bare spot. It is no longer there ! ... It is really 

 there we left it ; there is not the least doubt of that. 

 . . . While we are looking, the idea of lions occurs to 

 all of us only lions are capable of having dragged it 

 away. That is a matter to be found out : so we ad- 

 vance at the edge of the tall grass, and, thanks to the 

 wind, which whistles continuously, we have not given 

 warning of our presence. Tambarika, who is the most 

 supple of all of us, is ahead ; the others walk three or 

 four yards in the rear. . . . We stoop down. . . . 

 There is the buffalo, half hidden in the grass, sur- 

 rounded by savage forms. . . . Are they lions or 

 hyenas ? All bend forward and look . . . They are 

 lions : there is no doubt about it, for there are two or 

 three hyenas standing at a distance, their large ears 

 erect and their eyes fixed on the buffalo, waiting until 

 the lions have gone, to approach in turn. The dirty 

 yellow colour of the hyenas is so similar to that of the 

 earth, that until we are within twenty yards no one 

 has seen them. As to the lions, they are very busy, 



