HUNTING ELEPHANT AND RIDING LION 171 



they are not twenty yards away. I aim, well below the 

 ears and straight between them. There lies the brain, and 

 at this distance anyone could hit it. I fire, a deep grunt, 

 more than a growl, torn, twisted grass, and big paws in the 

 air. All is still. The grass does not even tremble. 



I look with all my eyes into the grass before me and 

 around. No sign of another! And now the shouting comes 

 nearer, and I see H. coming at a stretching gallop, my 

 Somali close after him. "Are you right?" he cries. Very 

 evidently I am. "Where are the lions ?" "The grass beat 

 us. We have lost two." "When I heard only one shot 

 I was very anxious. I feared you had ridden into them 

 and missed." Of course we shook hands all round, and 

 vowed we'd not "take on" lions, and more especially 

 lionesses in this sort of riding country again. 



It was still very early morning. One of my Wakamba, 

 my second gunbearer, stayed to skin my prize, and we rode 

 back to our temporarily deserted elephant spoor. We fol- 

 lowed it all day, losing it sometimes when the ridges were 

 bare. At other times following at a canter, the gunbearers 

 hanging to the horses' tails. But it was all to no pur- 

 pose. The band we followed separated on some rough 

 ground to hunt for water, and though we made a long cast, 

 in order to pick up the trail again, we failed to do so. It had 

 been a hard day. We had started very early and gone for 

 at least twenty-five miles, and hard as man and beast could 

 travel, and keep the spoor. It was already late in the after- 

 noon, and we turned campward. Our course had been 

 in a wide circle, and fortunately "home" was not more 

 than ten miles away. On the way back we rode almost 

 among a large herd of giraffe. They were looking at 

 something that alarmed them, directly away from us. The 

 riding was good and the grass muffled the ponies' feet, so 

 we were among them before they knew it. I longed for 

 a camera film, but I had used up my last, or I could, without 



