ACROSS THE MAU ESCARPMENT 77 



the line. Hobbling along with my stick, my gunbearer behind 

 me with the rifle, nerves were, naturally, a bit strung up,, 

 and when some bush buck or reed buck would crash through 

 the bushes a few feet away, the line so far as I could see it 

 would bend and sway, sticks would go up in the air; soon 

 as the porters saw it was nothing, they would steady again. 



Presently I could hear from the sound of beating sticks 

 and voices that the line had beat backward in the middle, 

 and was no longer straight but bowed, with either wing so 

 pressing forward, that if anything happened the men would 

 shoot into each other. If I had had any experience of beating 

 out such a place, I might have known that it would prove 

 impossible to keep even well-drilled men in a straight line. 

 But this was my first and my last attempt at such a job. 



A moment later there came a quite appalling grunting 

 roar right in the middle of the line, where J. J. W. and his 

 Somali gunbearer and his hunter were. It seemed only a 

 few feet off, it so pervaded the whole dark place, and my 

 heart stood still. I knew the lion was not dead by a long 

 way, and that we were all embarked on a foolish business. 

 Then a wild fusillade from all sides. The men shot in every 

 direction, some into the air, some into the ground. Poor 

 Momba, the hunter's Kikuyu gunbearer, said afterward, 

 that the askari next him "shot at the birds." Nobody 

 seemed to know where he shot, and nobody, of course, hit 

 the lion. I only knew that one of them nearly shot me, for 

 a bullet buried itself in the bank at my side. I counted 

 eighteen shots, and there may have been more. Then roar 

 on roar and shot on shot. Four or five from heavy guns 

 coming in quick succession. It seemed an age to me, who. 

 could see nothing, but it was really all over in two minutes. 

 Then silence for a moment! Then a loud cheer. And 

 then another loud call for water, and my heart sank, for 

 I knew someone must have been either shot or mauled. 

 I sent my gunbearer back to where my mule was tied, for 



