170 THE LAND OF THE LION 



two men ahead of me in view. We started at a hard gallop 

 but now there is a wild yell in front and the ponies are going 

 at very topmost speed. They see the lions before them. 

 The bushes thicken, the grass is rank and high. I must 

 keep near those ponies at any cost, so in go the spurs and 

 we tear along. There were three lions or lionesses we 

 had not a clear enough view to tell which. But now there 

 is but one ahead. Where on earth are the other two ? 

 Where did they turn ? Where do they crouch ? This 

 thickening grass hides anything, and everything! No 

 insurance company in the world would grant you one of those 

 delightfully comprehensive accident policies, if they but 

 knew what might lie waiting you, all unseen, in that yellow, 

 waving grass. 



My plucky mount by now is almost spent we have 

 raced for more than a mile and a half. Here I am on the 

 brow of a sudden descent, and no man or horse in sight. 

 I saw them not two hundred yards in front, less than half 

 a mile back, and expected to catch sight of them each 

 moment, as I forced the mule along. The lions have 

 swerved to right or left suddenly, and I have swept by the 

 lot. Where are the lions now ? And where are my men ? 

 I don't fancy one bit riding back through that all-hiding 

 grass, and so dismount. Just in time, as it happens, I 

 hear shouting far to my left, and as I do, there, through the 

 grass, not forty yards away, are two big ears moving. I 

 look beyond and on either side of those ears, anxiously, 

 I confess, for a moment. The tall grass is all round me. 

 This is not the sort of place, by any means, I should have 

 chosen to make my accounting with three thoroughly 

 angry lionesses. Are there one, two, three, ten ? Who 

 can tell ? Those ears come steadily nearer, just those ears 

 marking a broad head, which remains invisible. They are 

 equi distant. The lion is squarely head on. One thing at 

 least is sure. I must kill the beast with one shot. Now 



