xxin A SUCCESSFUL LION HUNT 267 



the plain on a pitch-dark night, with lions and rhino 

 all about, was by no means pleasant work, and I 

 heartily wished myself and my men safely back in 

 camp. Indeed, I was beginning to think that I 

 must have lost my bearings and was getting anxious 

 about it, when to my relief I heard a rifle shot about 

 half a mile ahead of us. I guessed at once that it was 

 fired by my good friend Spooner in order to guide 

 me, so I gave a reply signal ; and on getting to 

 the top of the next rise, I saw the plain in front of 

 me all twinkling with lights. When he found that 

 I had not returned by nightfall, Spooner had 

 become nervous about me, and fearing that I had 

 met with some mishap, had come out with a number 

 of the workmen in camp to search for me in the 

 direction I had taken in the afternoon. He was 

 delighted to find me safe and sound and with a 

 lion's skin as a trophy, while I was equally glad 

 to have his escort and company back to camp, 

 which was still over a mile away. 



When we had settled down comfortably to dinner 

 that night, I fired Spooner's sporting ardour by 

 telling him of the fine pair of lions who had 

 watched us skinning their companion, and we agreed 

 at once to go out next day and try to bag them 

 both. Spooner and I had often had many friendly 

 arguments in regard to the comparative courage of 

 the lion and the tiger, he holding the view that 



