"Koom! Koom!' 171 



struggle. My men have the 303 and a Martini rifle 

 in view of the same eventuality. The electric battery 

 is behind me securely fixed to a stake, so that a sudden 

 movement will not upset it. 



The darkness has been intense for a quarter of an 

 hour. The field-glass, so useful for moonlight nights, 

 is not the slightest assistance in this black night. 

 Only the pool of water which reflects the sky is a 

 little lighter than the rest. All around we neither 

 see nor discern anything, although there are, alter- 

 nately, bushes and bare earth, trees and stones. There 

 is not the slightest noise. Every now and then, how- 

 ever, a silure leaps out of the water and disturbs the 

 calm, some crickets chirp in the distance, and the 

 sharp, trilled notes of the goat-sucker (rumbe), 1 re- 

 sembling the notes of our nightingale, strike upon the 

 ear. . . . Suddenly, without warning, another noise 

 comes from the edge of the pool, "Koom! koom ! 

 koom ! " . . . We nudge one another's elbows and our 

 hearts beat violently. ... A lion is drinking ! . . . 

 This " Koom ! koom ! " is made with his throat, 

 slowly, at intervals of a second, and for several 

 minutes does he drink thus. . . .. The eye still dis- 

 tinguishes nothing. . . . The barrels of the Express 

 decline in the direction of the noise . . . there is no 

 need to hurry. ... I turn on the switch, and a 

 dazzling ray shows us two lions, almost white under 

 the jet of light, in the position of crouching cats 

 which lap up milk, and at the same side of the pool 

 as ourselves. At this moment they turn their heads, 



1 Cosmetornis vexillarius. 



