NORTH-EASTERN RHODESIA 113 



little, rocky cavern on the southern slopes of the 

 Chinicoatali Mountains. There was little animal 

 life in the mountains, but at the foot of the 

 slopes a pretty little river which gathered its 

 waters from the torrents of the range coursed 

 leisurely along, and here eland, zebra, roan 

 antelope, and bush-buck drank in the early 

 morning and again at dusk. The lioness found 

 no great difficulty, therefore, in finding meat for 

 herself, and although the birth of the cubs and 

 their subsequent nourishment demanded that 

 she should be exceptionally well fed, she was 

 seldom hungry. Sometimes she hunted alone 

 and sometimes she was accompanied by her 

 mate, a magnificent lion in the best years of his 

 life, with a great, tawny mane and a voice that 

 would make music through all the rocky fastnesses 

 of the mountains. But he was a gentleman of 

 uncertain habits. Sometimes he would return 

 to the lair in the first hour of sunlight, but often 

 he wandered away to the grassy plains by the 

 river and fell asleep amongst the tall, dense 

 grass bordering an ant-heap. Many weeks elapsed 

 before the cubs accompanied their parents on 

 their nocturnal excursions, but they soon learned 

 to imitate the stealthy, cat-like prowl of their 

 father and mother. 



Their father had shown them how to earn a 

 meal in a manner which had impressed them 

 greatly. He had crept up behind a great bull 

 eland one evening just as the noble old animal 

 was lowering his muzzle in the water for his 

 usual sundown fill. Suddenly the lion sprang 

 right on to the eland's withers, and his claws 

 dug right into his sides, and before the old bull 

 could even dash in abject terror into the river. 



