60 PEACE: LION HUNTING 



matter of tracks, etc., a bushman's verdict was 

 final, even with the other natives. It was a long 

 walk following the spoor, travelling fast where the 

 sand was fairly heavy and the tracks plain, but 

 losing time when we got amongst thorn bush or on 

 the harder white sand and ant-bed country. 

 There was a feeling as of electricity in the air when 

 the tracks became very fresh, and even the little 

 mongrel Kaffir cur of Tatello felt this ; for, when 

 my leg once brushed him unexpectedly, he jumped 

 sideways, doing it so comically, with a frightened 

 yap, that we all burst out laughing, the boys 

 seeing the joke too. The younger bushman, 

 Boombo, always took the lead when the spoor 

 was straight ahead, going quickly, his eyes glued 

 to the ground. I followed him and the remaining 

 boys in a line behind. If he got checked, then 

 Qumano and the others would help to pick up 

 the tracks again. 



After a while we came out suddenly on a more 

 open patch, with a thorn-bush scrub on our left 

 and a little patch of bush around an ant bed 

 straight in front. We were quite close up to the 

 ant bed, Boombo with eyes on the ground, when 

 there was a quick, excited chatter from the boys 

 behind. I turned to see them all excitedly point- 

 ing to something directly before us, and at that 

 moment two splendid big male lions appeared, 

 doubling back into the bush with a " whoof, 

 whoof," the half-angry, half-frightened noise a 

 lion makes when suddenly surprised. Of course, 



