THE LAND OF FOOTPRINTS* 



asmuch as the initial shock did not cause immediate 

 death, the lioness recovered sufficiently to be able, 

 two hours later, to take the offensive. This point 

 is of the greatest interest to the student of ballistics; 

 but it is curious even to the ordinary reader. 



That is a very typical example of finding lions 

 by sheer chance. Generally a man is out looking 

 for the smallest kind of game when he runs up against 

 them. Now happened to follow an equally typical 

 example of tracking. 



The next day after the killing of the lioness Mem- 

 ba Sasa, Kongoni and I dropped oif the bench, and 

 hunted greater kudu on a series of terraces fifteen 

 hundred feet below. All we found were two rhino, 

 some sing-sing, a heard of impalla, and a tremendous 

 thirst. In the meantime, Mavrouki had, under 

 orders, scouted the foothills of the mountain range 

 at the back. He reported none but old tracks of 

 kudu, but said he had seen eight lions not far from 

 our encounter of the day before. 



Therefore, as soon next morning as we could see 

 plainly, we again crossed the canon and the waist- 

 deep stream. I had with me all three of the gun 

 men, and in addition two of the most courageous 

 porters to help with the tracking and the looking. 



About eight o'clock we found the first fresh pad 

 mark plainly outlined in an isolated piece of soft 



IS4 



