MY FIRST LION 91 



the tell-tale earth you see where one, two, sometimes many 

 lions, lionesses, and cubs, drew the fatal circle round them. 

 The little knot of zebra burst forth in all directions, scatter- 

 ing like an exploded shell, and here one of them racing for 

 dear life, has been stricken down; here the soft paws of the 

 lion bite into the ground, and the deep indentations tell their 

 own story of his rush and spring. A few yards away lie 

 the remains of his prey, killed with scarcely a struggle by 

 one bite back of the ears, or, if as is sometimes the case, 

 the lion has missed his spring, the zebra hoofs cut deep into 

 the soil as he rushes away, and the lion's stride shortens at 

 once, and the tracks swing back to those of the band. Zebra 

 are his favourite game. They are fat, and seemingly easier 

 to stampede and pull down than waterbuck, Kongoni or 

 eland. But strange things happen in the to us so little 

 understood animal world. Even in places where game is 

 very abundant, and the lions fat and flourishing, I have 

 found a lion "kill," where, disdaining zebra or kongoni, 

 his majesty deigned to eat up a cheetah (A cheetah, is first 

 cousin to the leopard, more lightly built and much faster, 

 claws non-retractile, spots solid black not like those of the 

 leopard black but circular, skin much lighter). I have 

 known a lion that had well feasted on an elephant, finish off 

 his repast by eating almost an entire hyena, the last sort of 

 a dish you would think he would choose. This hyena was 

 not eaten by his own kith and kin, but by a lion, and while 

 unlimited elephant meat, of which lions are very fond was 

 lying within a few feet. There often seems to be as little 

 sense displayed by lions hunting, as there is poor discern- 

 ment shown by them in their gastronomy. H. of whom I 

 speak later, who has killed many lions and is what very 

 few professional hunters are, observant, saw four lions try- 

 to stalk a band of waterbuck in broad daylight. It was after 

 nine o'clock. The great antelope simply played with their 

 enemies, would let the crouching hunters come as near as 



