232 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



tree. It was most tantalising. The distance was 

 not more than 150 yards ; the lion was broadside 

 on, and I could see his nose on one side of the trunk 

 of the tree and a bit of his stern on the other. 

 I was shooting well at the time, and with a little 

 bit of luck there would have been another lion in 

 the bag ; but it was not to be. After standing for 

 a few seconds, he gave a " Wouf," and started at a 

 gallop for the jungle. If he had given me a 

 crossing shot I might have hit him, but he galloped 

 straight away from me, which is a shot I do not 

 like, and I missed him. Before I could fire the 

 second barrel he entered the thick cover. We 

 followed him for some distance into the cover, but 

 saw nothing more of him. 



"There he sit" was a favourite formula of 

 Tagarru's, and it misled me much at the outset 

 of the expedition, until I learned by experience 

 that it merely meant " There he is ! " If he had 

 not spoken, we should have had a better chance of 

 bagging the lion. 



After this we made our way to Nairobi, and 

 Gimlette left the country. 



After spending some days at Nairobi with my 

 friends, the late Mr. Currie and his wife, I went by 

 train, with a few porters, to Muhoroni, on the 

 west of the Rift Valley and not far from the 

 Victoria Nyanza, to shoot Jackson's hartebeest 

 and roan. It was pleasant country, and I had 

 some nice shooting, bagging good specimens of 

 Jackson's hartebeest and also good topi, and a 

 very good oribi. I failed, however, to get a roan. 

 They were not numerous, and were very wary, and 

 I was unable to get a shot except at a great dis- 



