CH. XXIII A SUCCESSFUL LION HUNT 261 
the incline or not, and I became so interested in the 
contest between steam and friction and gravity, 
that I did not notice that a visitor had approached 
and was standing quietly beside me. 
On hearing the usual salutation, however, I turned 
round and saw a lean and withered half-bred Masai, 
clothed in a very inadequate piece of wildebeeste hide 
which was merely slipped under the left arm and 
looped up in a knot over the right shoulder. He 
stood for a moment with the right hand held out on 
a level with his shoulder, the fingers extended and 
the palm turned towards me—all indicating that he 
came on a friendly visit. I returned his salutation, 
and asked him what he wanted. Before answering, 
he dropped down on his heels, his old bones cracking 
as he did so. ‘I want to lead the Great Master to 
two lions,” he said; “they have just killed a zebra 
and are now devouring it.” On hearing this I 
straightway forgot that I had already done a hard 
day’s work in the full blaze of an equatorial sun; I 
forgot that I was tired and hungry ; in fact, I forgot 
everything that was not directly connected with the 
excitement of lion-hunting. Even the old savage 
at my feet grinned when he saw how keen I was 
about it. I plied him with questions—were they 
both lions or lionesses ? had they manes? how far 
away were they? and so on. Naturally, to the last 
question he was bound to answer “ Jali kidogo.” 
