54 Three Months Leave in Somali Land. 



4th March, Sunday. — No lions to ray dead 

 donkey and lioness. I had the pair dragged to 

 a bush near my zereba and sat up in the scent of 

 the slayer and the slain (especially the slain). 

 Nothing came but hya3iias by the bushel and a 

 jackal. Moved camp. Started at 5 a.m. Near 

 Dubino came on lion tracks on hard ground. I 

 swore they were fresh (there was just a sprinkle 

 of rain last night at about 3 a.m.), and very 

 fresh; my men both swore they were yesterday's. 

 (I like to record it when I am right, sometimes I 

 forget to put it down when I am wrong.) Went 

 on to the Wells at Durbino and found unmistak- 

 able tracks of four lions — one male, one lioness 

 and two cubs, we judged it. Took the tracks 

 back and they went at first towards Derio, 

 whence we had come. After a bit they swerved 

 off the track and then came on to the track 

 again about 400 yards further on, and where we 

 found the pugs on the track they were over our 

 footmarks of the morning, so we had passed each 

 other within about 100 yards, without any know- 

 ledge of it on our part ; perhaps the lions kept a 

 better look-out. The tracks led on to a long hill 

 above Durbino. We hunted the hill well, get- 



