88 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



By this time it was raining heavily, and, 

 although it was always possible to shoot for some 

 part of the day, the ground near the station was 

 low-lying, and the flood water could only be 

 kept out of my tent by an elaborate system of 

 trenches. The discomfort, in the circumstances, 

 was considerable. As soon, therefore, as Judd 

 returned from a short holiday which he had taken 

 after seeing Bird off at Mombassa, we moved 

 camp to a place on the railway between Elmenteita 

 and Gilgil. There was an Indian gangman at 

 this place, who informed me that it was often 

 visited by lions. There were lions in the neigh- 

 bourhood ; and if I had hunted them assiduously, 

 and refrained from other shooting, I might have 

 got a shot. There were mountain reed-buck, 

 however, on the extinct craters of volcanoes 

 near the railway, which offered attractive shooting, 

 and Judd thought that a few shots at them 

 would make no difference, and I was only too 

 ready to take the same view. I came to the 

 conclusion afterwards that we were mistaken 

 in this, as the Indian gangman told me that on 

 one evening he saw a lion, which was travelling 

 towards the place where I was at the time, but 

 which altered its direction when I fired a shot. 

 Judd and Johnny also, on another occasion, 

 saw a lioness slink away when I fired at an 

 antelope. We followed in pursuit, but she was 

 not seen again. 



I saw a leopard one morning, when I was 

 hunting with Judd at this place, the only one I 

 saw in the course of two expeditions to Africa; 

 but the beast would not allow me to approach 



