62 PEACE: LION HUNTING 



but they were simply unprocurable there, and the 

 boys that I had sent in earlier from the Quandoo 

 to try and bring out a collection of dogs (I had 

 written to agents in Livingstone asking them to 

 procure such a collection for me) were so fright- 

 ened when they reached the Zambezi, that they 

 fled to their kraals without telling me. It is not, 

 of course, every dog that cares to face or bail 

 up a lion, or even follow the scent. 



I felt delighted that at last I had seen wild 

 lions ; they seemed bigger and darker than one 

 had imagined. It was satisfactory too that the 

 plan of following up their tracks with these bush- 

 men was turning out so promising a way to get 

 some sport. At the same time I was horribly 

 vexed with myself for having shot so hurriedly 

 and badly. 



On the following night I heard a solitary lion 

 grunting in the distance ; Hhe boys said that later 

 on — after I had fallen asleep — he passed quite 

 close. However, through some mistake or dispute, 

 we did not manage to cut his tracks next morning. 

 Accordingly we shifted camp some miles south 

 to the neighbourhood of a little kraal called 

 Lekasi, and I shot a sassaby in the evening. What 

 beautiful buck they are ! It is not to be wondered 

 at that Frederick Selous, that mighty hunter, 

 counted them as belonging to the fleetest of all 

 buck. They seem made for pace, with a lean, 

 thoroughbred-looking head, beautiful sloping 

 shoulders, and high withers ; while the somewhat 



