204 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 



absolutely motionless ; and I cannot speak too 

 highly of Mahina for the splendid way in which he 

 stood the charge. Had he acted as did another 

 gun-boy I know of, the affair might not have had so 

 happy an ending. This gun-boy went out with 

 Captain G - in this very neighbourhood, and not 

 long after our adventure. G - came across a 

 lion just as we did, and wounded it. It charged 

 down on them, but instead of remaining absolutely 

 still, the terrified gun-boy fled, with the result that 

 the lion came furiously on, and poor G - met 

 with a terrible death. 



While Mahina was scouring the neighbourhood 

 in search of some natives to carry the skin back 

 to camp, I took a good look round the place and 

 found the half-eaten body of a zebra, which I 

 noticed had been killed out in the open and then 

 dragged into the long grass. The tracks told me, 

 also, that all the work had been done by the lion, 

 and this set me thinking of the lioness. I accord- 

 ingly swept the plain with my glasses in the direc- 

 tion in which she had bounded off, and after some 

 searching I discovered her about a mile away, 

 apparently lying down in the midst of a herd of 

 hartebeeste, who grazed away without taking any 

 notice of her. I felt much inclined to follow her up rf 

 but I was afraid that if I did so the vultures that 

 were already hovering around would settle on my 



