A LION STORY 87 



more sensitive than his hide, nor did we act according to our 

 interpretation of the law. The injury was done, and, frightened 

 as all the men were, we might, fate or no fate, depend upon 

 their not forgetting the fire in future. Not much sleep did 

 they get that night, the popular and firm belief being that the 

 lion, having once tasted human blood, would be certain to return. 

 However, their fears proved groundless, and the remaining 

 hours till dawn were passed in peace. That I had in the 

 darkness hit the lion had never entered my head, so my delight 

 was great when, soon after daybreak, one of the men discovered 

 blood near the river bank and more at the edge of the jungle 

 opposite. However, breakfast first and search after the 

 wounded lion afterwards was the programme agreed upon. 

 While waiting for our morning meal we examined the course 

 taken by the lion in his peregrinations through the camp, and our 

 astonishment was great when we discovered the prints of two 

 enormous forepaws exactly one foot and a half from the edge 

 of my bed; he must have had his head right over me, and 

 examined me closely, or rather the blankets, for, suffering from 

 a slight cold, I had enveloped myself from head to foot in a 

 sack blanket. This probably was my salvation, the lion not 

 caring to investigate the interior of a mysterious sack ; at all 

 events he left me disgusted, and transferred his attentions to G., 

 who was reposing peacefully in a hammock, dreaming, no doubt, 

 of all kinds of sweet things at home, and little enough of the 

 noble animal so intently looking at him with a view to ultimate 

 digestion. A sudden awakening for him or me when the lion's 

 nose was within a few inches of, or perhaps even nearer, to our 

 own nasal organs, would certainly been very startling, and 

 probably fatal. However, G. was not to the taste of this 

 fastidious monarch, or the network of the hammock puzzled 

 and seemed uncanny to him ; at all events the lion continued 

 his studies of a hunter's camp by examining the kitchen, 

 where his dainty appetite was not, luckily for us, tempted by 

 the cook or any other savoury morsel, but where royal pro- 

 gress was inconsiderately barred towards the main camp fire 

 by some heavy boxes. Thence, therefore, he walked back into 

 the river-bed, closely passing a horse on his way, re-entering 

 our camp opposite to where the men slept, and taking no notice 

 of two other horses who were tied to a palm, which horses 



