338 IN AFRICA 



At about this time another lion came out of the 

 swamp behind and loped up the hill. The saises 

 were sent galloping after it to round it up, but they 

 reappeared after a few moments and reported that 

 it had got away in the direction of a huge swamp 

 a mile or so beyond. We began to think we had 

 struck a nest of lions. 



Then we went in to drive out that lion in the 

 deep grass. The native beaters, encouraged by see- 

 ing armed white men leading the way, came along 

 with renewed enthusiasm. That grass was some- 

 thing terrible. One would hardly care to go 

 through it if he knew that a bag of gold or a fairy 

 princess awaited him beyond ; with a lion there, the 

 delight of the job became immeasurably less. We 

 could not see three feet ahead. From time to time 

 we were floundering down into channels of water 

 hidden by the density of the grass. Some of these 

 channels were two feet deep. And with each yard 

 of advance came the realization that we were com- 

 ing to an inevitable show-down with that lion. 

 Akeley and I were in with the beaters, Stephenson 

 was beyond the patch of grass to intercept the lion 

 should it break forth from cover. 



It was not until we had nearly traversed the en- 

 tire patch of reeds that the lion was found. It evi- 

 dently lay silently ahead of us until we were almost 

 upon it. Then, almost beneath my feet, came the 

 angry and ominous growl, and my Somali gun- 

 bearer leaped in terror, falling as he did so. I ex- 

 pected to see a long, lean flash of yellow body and 



