XXIII A SUCCESSFUL LION HUNT 265 
four of the disappointed Wa Kamba, had come 
up, so we started off in a body in pursuit of him. | 
felt sure that he was lurking somewhere in the 
grass not far off, and I knew that I could depend 
upon the native eye to find him if he showed so 
much as the tip of his ear. Nor was I disappointed, 
for we had scarcely topped the next rise when one 
of the Wa Kamba spotted the dark brown head of 
the brute as he raised it for an instant above the 
grass in order to watchus. We pretended not to 
have seen him, however, and advanced to within two 
hundred yards or so, when, as he seemed to be 
getting uneasy, I thought it best to risk a shot even 
at this range. I put up the 200-yards sight and the 
bullet fell short ; but the lion never moved. Raising 
the sight another fifty yards, I rested the rifle on 
Mahina’s back for the next shot, and again missed ; 
fortunately, however, the lion still remained quiet. | 
then decided to put into practice the scheme I| had 
thought out the day I sat astride the lion I had 
killed on the Kapiti Plain: so I told all my followers 
to move off to the right, taking the mule with them, 
and to make a half-circle round the animal, while 
I lay motionless in the grass and waited. The ruse 
succeeded admirably, for as the men moved round 
so did the lion, offering me at last a splendid shoulder 
shot. I took very careful, steady aim and fired, 
with the result that he rolled over and over, and 
