More Lions 



empty rifle, so that she dropped the man and, 

 turning on him again, with one stroke, sent his 

 rifle flying from his hand, and then most merci- 

 fully seized that and bore it off a little way, 

 dropping it outside the bush in which she sub- 

 sequently met her end. The hunters then 

 staggered off, returning to camp by a circuitous 

 route, and not meeting the men with their food, 

 who actually secured the rifle under the very nose 

 of the lioness without knowing she was there. 

 Had the lioness not been weak from the loss of 

 blood caused by her overnight wound, she would 

 almost certainly have killed the lot in succession. 

 On returning to camp I found Eustace had 

 made a very neat job of bandaging the injured 

 man. No true Somali will ever touch strong 

 drink, and I have no doubt this helped him con- 

 siderably, added to the fact that he had been 

 living hard on plain diet ; anyhow, no complica- 

 tions ensued, though it was some time before he 

 could be moved. Luckily, however, we had almost 

 reached the eighth line, beyond which we had been 

 cautioned not to go, so that although we did go a 

 bit further south, it was only with a flying camp, 

 and we formed our base round the prostrate 

 hunter. By the time we returned he was able 

 to ride a pony, and before we got back to the 

 coast was almost recovered, though he showed 

 ugly white scars, of which, however, he was rather 



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