62 BIG GAME SHOOTING 
on his back. I very quickly put two or three yards more 
between the soles of my feet and the ground. Presently, 
from the upper end of the pool came the moaning pant of a 
questing lion; it was immediately answered from the lower end 
—their majesties were on the look-out for supper, and had 
divided the approaches to the water between them. It was 
much too dark to see anything, but from the sounds they 
seemed to walk in beats, occasionally telling one another of 
their whereabouts by a low pant ; of my presence I think they 
were not aware. 
This went on for an hour or more, and I got colder and 
colder ; my beard and moustache were stiff with frost. I could 
not much longer endure the cramped position in my scraggy tree, 
and I felt I must get down and light a fire, when, suddenly 
up came the blessed moon, and right under her the sound 
of three or four muskets fired together. With the help of her 
light and partial direction in case my companions got tired 
of firing, I was not going to stay up a tree to be frozen. 
Waiting, therefore, until she was about ‘ one tree high,’ and until 
the lions were far asunder, on their separate beats, as well as I 
could make out from the sound, I came down, and capping—it 
was all I could do ; for, as I said, I had started without powder 
and ball—my empty gun, which was standing against the tree, I 
passed at the double round the end of the water and dived into 
the bush on the opposite side. I have no doubt my desire 
was to get on as quickly as possible, but reasons for a cautious 
advance soon made themselves heard on all sides. An African 
forest was then alive at night. I only thought of the lions, 
and especially of the two I had left, or perhaps not left, at the 
water; but every little nocturnal animal that stirred kept me 
on the stretch—the less noise the more danger. —The movement 
of a mouse might well be mistaken for the stealthy tread of the 
king of the cats. Among the trees the moon gave but scanty 
light, and nearly every minute I had to stop and listen as some 
unseen animals passed near me. Sometimes I could recognise 
them by their cry, but mostly it was ‘a running that could not 
a i ti i 
ee ee a 
See Pernt 
