1 68 THE LAND OF THE LION 



soft nose on as he rode on his way. It was a piece of for- 

 getfulness that might have cost him dear. Solid bullets 

 are not good things to stop an oncoming lion with. One, 

 or at most two, well-placed, soft-nose 350*5 would, on the 

 other hand, have taken the fight out of any lion. No man 

 can afford to take any chances with lion. It is by taking 

 chances, or by some act of carelessness or ignorance such 

 as this, that so many men are mauled. But all's well that 

 ends well. And none of us will ever see a finer lion than 

 this one that died so gallantly. 



For the next two days I had a bout of decidedly bad 

 shooting. The great herds of game are always far harder 

 to approach than small groups or single animals, and 

 round the Rock a near shot is generally difficult to get, as 

 there is little but cover. Still, with patience, you could even 

 here get within three hundred yards of kongoni and zebra, 

 and at that range I had killed a great deal of meat. But 

 now it was not to be. I felt all the more chagrined as I 

 had promised the men a big feed once we reached Sergoit 

 camp. I missed one kongoni at three hundred, wounded 

 another at not much over two hundred, and wounded a 

 big pig. Then I thought it was time to stop, and for the 

 present, at least, depute to H. the task of getting meat 

 for our hungry men. 



Next day we moved camp to a place H. knew well, 

 and where, on another occasion, we had seen several lions. 

 The water was fair, but we had to send forty men more 

 than three miles to bring in wood. Tents were pitched in 

 a closer circle than usual, and a large central fire kept 

 going, as our mules, donkeys, and ponies needed hereabouts 

 very special looking after. 



Early in the afternoon we rode off for a look round but 

 saw nothing. Next morning I determined to make a very 

 early start, H. and I going in one direction, and J. J. W. 

 and his hunter taking another. The season was so early 



