CHAPTER XIII 



IN THE SWAMPS ON THE GUAS NGISHU. BEATING FOE 

 LIONS WE CAME UPON A STRANGE AND FASCINAT- 

 ING WILD BEAST, WHICH BECAME AT- 

 TACHED TO OUR PARTY. THE LIT- 

 TLE WANDEROBO DOG 



ONE of the most exciting phases of African hunt- 

 ing is the beating of swamps for lion. A long 

 skirmish line of native porters is sent in at one 

 end of the swamp and, like a gigantic comb, sweeps 

 every live thing ahead of it as it advances through 

 the reeds. All kinds of swamp life are stirred into 

 action, and a fairly large swamp will yield forth 

 the contents of a pretty respectable menagerie. 

 Sometimes a hyena or two will be flushed and once 

 in a while a lion will be driven out. 



It is the constant expectation of the last-named 

 animal that gives such keen and long sustained in- 

 terest to the work of beating a swamp. One never 

 knows what to expect. A suspicious stir in the reeds 

 may mean a lion or only a hyena; an enormous 

 crashing may sound like a herd of elephants, but 

 finally resolve itself into a badly frightened reed- 

 buck. Most of the time you expect reedbuck, but 

 all the time you have to be ready for lion. As a 

 general thing a lion will slink along in the reeds 



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