BRITISH EAST AFRICA 195 



Elmi increased his frenzied supplications. I 

 felt almost on the point of apologizing to him 

 for my defective vision under such uncomfort- 

 able circumstances when at last I made out 

 the shape of the brute, half-concealed behind a 

 broken tree-trunk. I lost no time in firing again, 

 for the position looked nasty, and I momentarily 

 expected the other lions to join in. The bullet 

 hit with a telling " vup." I followed it up with 

 another. There was a final ferocious grunt, and 

 then the tawny mass lay quite still. 



We dashed on in the direction taken by the 

 rest of the troop. I would almost have given 

 my right arm for another sight of that great, 

 black-maned lion. But it was not to be. The 

 ground was rough and stony, the spoor was 

 exceedingly difficult to follow, and the troop had 

 made off at a great pace. Accordingly we 

 elected to return to the dead animal before the 

 ghoulish vultures commenced an impudent feast. 

 I was bitterly disappointed to find that my trophy 

 was a young lion, little more than half-grown, 

 instead of a full-grown lioness as Elmi and I had 

 both thought. Yellow lion-flies were buzzing 

 around the carcase, so we quickly skinned it and 

 returned to camp. 



What most impressed me in that disappoint- 

 ing hunt was my inability to see the wounded 

 animal, although looking straight at it. The 

 tawny colour of the skin blended so har- 

 moniously with rocks and stunted yellow- 

 leaved shrubs, that only a highly-trained eye 

 such as Elmi's could immediately distinguish 

 between the lion and its surroundings. Never 

 had Nature's law of protective environment 

 been brought home to me in such a remarkable 

 manner. 



