104 IN AFRICA 



down and watched us as we made our way cau- 

 tiously in the grass to where her mate lay as he fell, 

 stone dead. We afterward followed her, but she 

 escaped from view and could not be located. This 

 lion was the largest we had seen and measured nine 

 feet from tip to tip. 



This was our last experience with lions in the 

 Trans-Tana country. After that we went up in 

 the elephant country on Mount Kenia, but that is 

 a story all in itself. 



Lion hunting is the best kind of African hunt- 

 ing in one respect. One feels no self-reproach in 

 having killed a lion, for there is always the com- 

 forting thought that by killing one lion you have 

 saved the lives of three hundred other animals. 

 Every lion exacts an annual toll of at least that 

 number of zebras, hartebeests, or other forms of 

 antelopes, all of which are powerless to defend 

 themselves against the great creature that creeps 

 upon them in cover of darkness. So a lion hunter 

 may consider himself something of a benefactor. 



