206 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CH. xvm 



for myself to remain absolutely alone for hours on 

 a vast open plain beside the carcase of a dead 

 lion, with vultures incessantly wheeling about 

 above one, and with nothing to be seen or heard for 

 miles around except wild animals. It was a great 

 relief, therefore, when after a long wait I saw 

 Mahina approaching with half-a-dozen practically 

 naked natives in his train. It turned out that he 

 had lost his way back to me, so that it was lucky he 

 found me at all. We lost no time in getting back 

 to camp, arriving there just at sundown, when my 

 first business was to rub wood ashes into the skin 

 and then stretch it on a portable frame which I had 

 made a few days previously. The camp fire was a 

 big one that night, and the graphic and highly 

 coloured description which Mahina gave to the eager 

 circle of listeners of the way in which we slew the 

 lion would have made even " Bahram, that great 

 Hunter," anxious for his fame. 



