WILD LIFE ACROSS THE WORLD 



When morning came I went over to see the new 

 arrival, whom I found very elated and beaming with 

 pride at the sight of two dead lions lying within ten 

 and thirty yards respectively of the embers of the 

 fire. 



"There were at least six of them," he said. "I 

 saw their eyes gleaming in the darkness, but now 

 there are two less." 



The following day I went out quail-shooting close 

 to the aerodrome with a brother officer who had just 

 arrived, and of course we were only armed with shot- 

 guns. As usually happens when two men go for a 

 shooting expedition in the African bush, we soon lost 

 sight of one another. The grass and the bush were 

 not very high, but quite high enough, as I afterwards 

 discovered, to hide a lion. 



Anyhow, before I had time to dwell on this fact 

 I found myself face to face with one. Fortunately, 

 I saw him first. He was coming round a small bush, 

 when we met. It was an awkward moment for both 

 of us. Just as I caught sight of him he stopped, in 

 fact we both stopped, at the same second. He looked 

 me straight in the eyes. I returned the compliment. 



My shot-gun was in my hand, but I stood as 

 motionless as a statue, for I knew that the slightest 

 movement would be tantamount to signing my own 

 death warrant. 



So we still looked at each other. 



232 



