104 WAR: A SCOUTS' PATROL 



The mystery was cleared up by my head boy, 

 who said that " he had taken him down and 

 washed him, as he was to be the master's boy." 

 This I am sure was the first and the last wash 

 that Boombo every enjoyed ; as a matter of fact, 

 these people simply never do wash, literally never. 



The same afternoon with our new acquisition I 

 went a-seeking meat. About a mile out from the 

 camp I noticed the boy look at something 

 hard, then, after turning to me with a peculiar 

 smile, he looked again and pointed. Through the 

 broken bush I could see what I took to be three 

 zebras, one apparently a mare with a big foal along- 

 side. Now, though I hate and detest shooting a 

 zebra, we wanted meat so badly that half un- 

 willingly, and therefore carelessly, without taking 

 trouble to stalk them properly, I walked round a 

 patch of bush to get closer, undecided after all 

 whether I would shoot or not. 



On turning the corner the reason of the boy's 

 peculiar smile became apparent — they were lions 

 and not zebras ; a lioness, a lion, and a young 

 three-parts grown lioness. The lioness was quite 

 near, and looked a very big animal ; she was 

 near enough for me to see the long sweep of the 

 great shoulder as she slowly walked along. Natur- 

 ally I made a mess of it, and tried to get into a 

 clump of small trees, thinking I could there get 

 a still closer and safer shot than in the open. The 

 bushman himself stood quite still, but the lions 

 spotted us and bolted immediately, and I only 



