THE FIRST LION 



examined again. And how we did strain our eyes 

 in a vain attempt to penetrate the half lights, the 

 duskinesses of the closed-in thicket not over fifteen 

 feet away ! And then the movement forward of two 

 feet would bring into our field of vision an entirely 

 new set of tiny vistas and possible lurking places. 



Speaking for myself, I was keyed up to a tremen- 

 dous tension. I stared until my eyes ached; every 

 muscle and nerve was taut. Everything depended 

 on seeing the beast promptly, and firing quickly. 

 With the manifest advantage of being able to see us, 

 she would spring to battle fully prepared. A yellow 

 flash and a quick shot seemed about to size up that 

 situation. Every few moments, I remember, I sur- 

 reptitiously held out my hand to see if the con- 

 stantly growing excitement and the long-continued 

 strain had afi"ected its steadiness. 



The combination of heat and nervous strain was 

 very exhausting. The sweat poured from me; and 

 as F. passed me I saw the great drops standing out 

 on his face. My tongue got dry, my breath came 

 laboriously. Finally I began to wonder whether 

 physically I should be able to hold out. We had 

 been crawling, it seemed, for hours. I dared not look 

 back, but we must have come a good quarter mile. 

 Finally F. stopped. 



"Pm all in for water," he gasped in a whisper. 



117 



