An African Shooting Trip 



prowls. The hyena's track was seen every- 

 where ; a slovenly print — like the animal him- 

 self — with toe-nail points showing in the sand. 

 Then there were the leopard and cheetah 

 tracks, differing because the cheetah can only 

 partially retract his claws. Most noticeable 

 of all was the lion track. Clearly outlined, 

 with no nail points showing, and deeply im- 

 pressed in the sandy soil, it always made one 

 think of the five or six hundred pounds of 

 tremendous energy which had passed by, es- 

 pecially when the track was fresh, and the 

 men following on the hot trail. 



Arrived on the other side of the plain, we 

 found some fair water, and began to hear 

 news of lion and rhinoceros. The natives 

 told stories of lions continually jumping into 

 the native villages over zarebas, oftentimes 

 eight to ten feet high, and carrying off sheep 

 and goats, and of one man, who had been 

 recently killed by a lion, while watching his 

 flocks on the hills. 



At last, one day, when in good rhinoceros 

 country, luck came my way. For several days 

 we had been puzzled in following tracks, but 

 managed one morning, after many hours' hard 

 work, to come up with two animals in rather 



113 



'^ 



