SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 229 



quaintly, " God bless you, my dear ! " He then 

 gave a more substantial proof of his gratitude by 

 informing Gimlette that there were lions in the 

 neighbourhood, and that, if we hunted for a day 

 or two, we should probably come across them. 

 Either on that afternoon, or on the following day, 

 Gimlette and his men did run into the lions, a 

 lioness and two nearly full-grown cubs, a lion and 

 a lioness ; Gimlette had a snap-shot at the old 

 lioness as she disappeared round a small mound. 

 One of his men also came upon the lion, which 

 made a demonstration but moved off without 

 actually attacking them. 



We encamped near the place, and in the morning, 

 before dawn, heard the lions roaring. We rose 

 early and went in pursuit, and came upon them 

 before the sun was up in a small, dry, wooded 

 ravine, which connected with the broken ground 

 and jungle on the bank of the stream, forming 

 the boundary of Juja estate. 



The lioness was standing in cover in the bed of 

 the ravine, and offered a difficult shot at about 

 200 yards' distance. With the telescope-sight I 

 think I could have hit her if I had sat down and 

 taken a shot ; but it was Gimlette's turn, and, at 

 his request, I refrained from firing. The lioness 

 then walked out of the ravine up the bank, and, 

 as the sun had just risen, she stood there with 

 the light shining on her skin, offering a very tempt- 

 ing shot. The distance was, however, consider- 

 able, and Gimlette always fired from a standing 

 position. He took the shot and missed, and the 

 lioness moved off. We followed her, but could 

 not see her again ; and, while we were on the left 



