SPORT IN WAR 

 Moreover, to all our fun a season- 

 ing was added in the shape of lions, 

 whose presence or propinquity was 

 very frequently impressed upon us 

 at nights by deep-toned grunts or 

 ghostly apparitions within the halo 

 of our watchfires. In defiance of 

 the rules of war which forbid the 

 use of fires by night, as guiding an 

 enemy's night attack we had a ring 

 of bright fires burning round our 

 bivouac to scare away the lions. 

 Frequently our sentries fired upon 

 them as they kept a waiting watch, 

 prowling from point to point outside 

 our line of men. But, in spite of 

 such precautions, on one occasion 

 they took one of our horses, and on 

 another they carried off a mule. 

 By day we saw them too. One 

 24 



