ON THE TRACK OF A LION 



379 



terrible roar from the neighbouring ravine strikes them all 

 dumb, whilst the only answer to the challenge is the flinging 

 of fresh fuel upon the fires, the leaping up of higher, brighter 

 flames, but there is an end to conversation, and all is still in 

 camp now. 



After a night of continuous rain, the morning broke fairly 

 clear, and in spite of my aching limbs I was up and off betimes 

 with Maktubu and a few men in the hope of reaching the 

 bamboo district. We had only been a few minutes on the way 

 when the roar of a lion not far off brought us to a standstill. 

 I must explain that it is extremely difficult to tell from his 

 voice how far off the king of beasts is. One minute you think 

 he is at your elbow, and the next, as the echoes of his roar roll 

 through the woods beyond, you fancy he is at a considerable 

 distance. This time he was by the brook, about 400 paces off. 

 We hastened there to find deep footprints in the sand, with the 

 water in them still in motion, but we saw nothing else, and 

 another roar soon told us that the huge creature had taken 

 flight. We heard him yet once again from a long way off, 

 which decided us not to follow him, as it would have delayed 

 us too much. We marched slowly upwards through a beautiful 

 old forest, reaching, in about an hour, the edge of the bamboo 

 thicket, entering which walking became anything but a pleasure, 

 the stems being very close together with only here and there a 

 little clearing. Once we were just going to step into such an 

 opening when we saw a solitary old buffalo bull lying on the 

 grass at about forty paces off He gazed at us in astonishment 

 for a moment, and then got up. But my 500 Express was 

 already in position ; a shot at the shoulder brought him down, 

 and he lay motionless on his side. I was about to rush towards 

 him when Maktubu urged me to fire again first, as buffaloes 

 are so marvellously tenacious of life that it is impossible ever 

 to be sure they are really dead. As this was the first buffalo I 



