CHAP. XVIII EL BOGOI TO MOMBASA 409 



of the range ; so that we did not reach the stream on which I 

 meant to camp, in the open just outside the forest, till noon. 

 My intention was to make a strong " boma " round our camp, 

 believing that, with proper precautions, we should be able to 

 sleep safely ; and that, as soon as an animal for bait could be 

 killed, we might trap the lion which had caused the neighbour- 

 hood to be dreaded by the defenceless Ndorobo stragglers who 

 sometimes wandered hither. At the same time, I did not 

 believe that our party would be in much danger. 



Unluckily, heavy rain came on (during which it is impossible 

 to keep Africans at work), still further delaying our preparations, 

 so that when the evening closed in, cloudy and threatening, the 

 fence was only half built. The grass in the open country was 

 now yellow, and about the stream a good deal of it was old 

 and rather long. My men were camped at the foot of a single 

 tree which grew on a little knoll, my tent being a few yards 

 awa}'. When the young moon went down, it became very dark 

 and showery, and I confess I did not feel very happy, thinking 

 about the man-eating lion and our exposed position. 



There was a fire, as usual, in front of my tent, and the men 

 had collected plenty of wood and had made several all round 

 them, beside which they sat talking till near midnight ; but 

 with their usual carelessness they had all gone to sleep about 

 the same time, so that when I went outside once more, a little 

 before one o'clock, after some fitful and uneasy sleep, all was 

 quiet and only Baithai was still sitting up. I had just awoke 

 from a troubled slumber and a disagreeable dream about a lion 

 invading my camp, and felt uncomfortable. I lay down again, 

 however, and had just gone off again into a light sleep when I 

 was suddenly aroused by the commotion of an attack — this 

 time, alas ! too real — from the lion we had heard so much 

 about. Its growls — such familiar sounds to me now, the 

 meaning of which I knew too well — were mingled with shouts 

 and cries of alarm from the men, and the scuffling noise 

 occasioned by its and their movements. Seizing my rifle, I 



