XXII A SUCCESSFUL LION HUNT 267 
the plain on a pitch-dark night, with lions and rhino 
all about, was by no means pleasant work, and I 
heartily wished myself and my men safely back in 
camp. Indeed, I was beginning to think that I 
must have lost my bearings and was getting anxious 
about it, when to my relief I heard a rifle shot about 
half a mile ahead of us. I guessed at once that it was 
fired by my good friend Spooner in order to guide 
me, so I gave a reply signal; and on getting to 
the top of the next rise, I saw the plain in front of 
me all twinkling with lights. When he found that 
J had not returned by nightfall, Spooner had 
become nervous about me, and fearing that I had 
met with some mishap, had come out with a number 
of the workmen in camp to search for me in the 
direction I had taken in the afternoon. He was 
delighted to find me safe and sound and with a 
lion’s skin as a trophy, while I was equally glad 
to have his escort and company back to camp, 
which was still over a mile away. 
When we had settled down comfortably to dinner 
that night, I fired Spooner’s sporting ardour by 
telling him of the fine pair of lions who had 
watched us skinning their companion, and we agreed 
at once to go out next day and try to bag them 
both. Spooner and I had often had many friendly 
arguments in regard to the comparative courage of 
the lion and the tiger, he holding the view that 
