IX 



THE FIRST LION 



ONE day we all set out to make our discoveries 

 — F., B., and I with our gunbearers, Memba 

 Sasa, Mavrouki, and Simba, and ten porters to 

 bring in the trophies, which we wanted very much, 

 and the meat, which the men wanted still more. We 

 rode our horses, and the syces followed. This 

 made quite a field force — nineteen men all told. 

 Nineteen white men would be exceedingly unlikely 

 to get within a liberal half mile of anything; but the 

 native has sneaky ways. 



At first we followed between the river and the low 

 hills, but when the latter drew back to leave open a 

 broad flat, we followed their line. At this point 

 they rose to a clifFlike headland a hundred and fifty 

 feet high, flat on top. We decided to investigate 

 that mesa, both for the possibilities of game, and for 

 the chance of a view abroad. 



The footing was exceedingly noisy and treacher- 

 ous, for it was composed of flat, tinkling little stones. 

 Dried-up, skimpy bushes just higher than our heads 



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