184 THE LION 



following wild and beautiful legend of British 

 East Africa, which I believe has been told often 

 enough before in that favoured land, but which 

 may not yet have reached the ears of hunters out- 

 side it. On one occasion, in those good old days 

 when there was no railway or telegraph wire or 

 other annoying contrivance calculated to get in the 

 way of those persons whose one ambition it was 

 (and perhaps still is) to be a law unto themselves, 

 a considerable expedition of pack-donkeys on its 

 way up country was passing through a region 

 where lions were known to be numerous. After 

 the first night spent within this danger zone, the 

 donkeys were duly saddled and laden, and, once 

 on the way, it was most forcibly remarked by all 

 hands that, however drowsy their rate of pro- 

 gression might hitherto have been, nobody could 

 now complain of their slowness, since it took the 

 native and European attendants all their time 

 to keep up. But one donkey there was which 

 dawdled, and it was not until his arrival in camp 

 that, amid appalling commotion, the truth was at 

 last apparent. It seemed that the preceding night 

 a lurking lion had succeeded in getting among 

 the donkeys, with one of which he gorged himself 

 to such an extent that all desire to escape left him. 

 The following morning, as dawn drew nigh, he was 

 so inert, weighed down by the immense weight of 

 donkey which lay heavily upon him, that he 

 allowed himself in the darkness, and in mistake 

 for the deceased animal, to be laden with the 

 others and hurried along after them. The record 

 march which resulted was thus due to his scent, 



