xii AN ADVENTURE WITH LIONS 147 



muzzles of our rifles. It was consequently quite im- 

 possible to make out the eland, which was only four 

 yards from the loopholes. 



In this way we sat with all our senses on the alert 

 until about midnight, when I heard a rustling 

 among the bushes; I whispered to my companions 

 on no account to move or make a noise of any 

 kind, as the lions were approaching. Intense 

 silence again reigned for the space of about half an 

 hour, when, without warning of any kind, I heard 

 the deadly, cautious advance of a lion absolutely at 

 my elbow, just outside the fence on my side of the 

 shoma. He was so close that when he stealthily 

 put down his paw, after holding it poised in the air 

 for what seemed to me like an eternity, he actually 

 stepped on to the dry leaves which had fallen from 

 the branches of the shoma, and these now rustled as 

 he placed his foot on them, not a yard from where I 

 sat. 



The creepy feeling which this slow and stealthy 

 advance at such close quarters produced is inde- 

 scribable. I feared every moment that he would 

 jump through our fragile structure, as, of course, he 

 knew quite well that we were there and was 

 investigating our position, possibly with the view 

 to getting at us. Every moment I hoped to see 

 his body pass before my narrow loophole, and as 

 a matter of fact he was so close that I was afraid 



