Sporting Trips of a Subaltern 



fall of milk and information, remounted his pony, 

 and we jogged off, accompanied by three very 

 dressy gentlemen with flowing " tobes," spears, 

 and all quite well mounted on their hardy little 

 Somali tats. I ; own I thought they would be 

 rather a nuisance, but, as the sequel will show, 

 they were quite invaluable. We had not long to 

 wait before seeing a confirmation of the old lady's 

 tale. High up in the heavens we saw vultures 

 circling round yet never coming down, which was 

 a sure sign that, first, there was a kill below them ; 

 and, secondly, that there was something by it that 

 they dare not approach, something more to be 

 feared than a fox or a skulking hyena ; there was 

 only one explanation, my lord the lion was dining ! 

 Now came an anxious time. Spots and I dis- 

 mount and stalk slowly through the thin bush, 

 guiding ourselves by the vultures above, but at 

 the same time keeping an exceeding wary eye on 

 the bushes below. Why does the bush insist on 

 getting denser at these critical moments ? We 

 had been in quite open country just before ; it 

 seems very unreasonable, though the reason in 

 this case is not far to seek, as naturally lion would 

 be more likely to kill in close cover than in the 

 open. 



Suddenly for, as it seems, the very briefest 

 fraction of a second I see three great yellow 

 beasts, and a moment later can scarcely believe 



122 



