A LION-DRIVE 43 



distance tlican the far-ranging cordite "SOS. I was lying- 

 hidden in long grass about one hundred yards from the 

 covert, and the noisy line of beaters had already 

 approached within half-a-mile, when my Somali gun- 

 bearer, Elmi Hassan, who was lying beside me, pointed 

 into the wood, saying, " See ! two lions I You no see ? " 

 I certainly did not see. For some time I could distinguish 

 nothing moving whatever ; but at length, as the lions 

 came exactly opposite my position, where the wood was 

 rapidly thinning out, I saw them. They were not easy 

 to detect, so low and stealthy was their advance, crouch- 

 ino; alons^ under covert of brushwood and rushes. As 

 the lions were completely enclosed, I would not risk the 

 uncertain shot they now offered ; in fact, it seemed 

 to me clear that, short of breaking-back, the lions had 

 hardly any choice but to pass out between me and my 

 one left-hand neighbour. They did neither. At a 

 point exactly on my front the two beasts lay down in 

 two green bushes that grew within a dozen yards of 

 each other beneath the last straggling trees. 



Hardly had this incident occurred than we became 

 aware, by a chorus of discordant yells from the beaters 

 (some of whom we could see rushing out of the wood), 

 that they had come across something inside that was 

 not C[uite to their taste. Amidst the din, the word 

 " simba" (lion) predominated, and at once the three guns 



on ray right, including my brother W , dashed oft* 



towards the point indicated. Having my two marked 

 lions in front of me, I remained quietly where I was, 

 and so soon as the coast was clear, beckoned to my left- 

 hand neighbour, told him what I had seen, and arranged 

 that he should advance from the left, while I went 

 straight in to the lions in front. 



Naturally, under such circumstances one went in with 

 every sense on full stretch, anticipating and prepared 

 for any contingency ; but on drawing nearer and nearer 

 to those two bushes without seeing a sign of movement 

 within, the tension began to slacken. At twenty yards' 

 distance it seemed impossible that so large a beast as a 



