GLIMPSE OF A LIONESS 
75 
and seemed highly pleased with the bargain. She had 
now got a younger if not a prettier husband ; and the 
thought of an amour with a stranger is always dear to the 
heart of the female black. My head-skikari now appeared to 
be really ill ; but the men said he was all right, but had 
eaten too much. I made him violently sick with an emetic, 
and told him to go to sleep. This man had gorged himself 
with three different foods during the day — camel’s milk, 
meat, and dates. He would have been all right if he had 
stuffed himself with one only, but mixing them had made 
him ill. Somalis have very delicate stomachs. Don’t hit 
a Somali hard below the belt. He will lie down and die in 
a very short time. 
After supper I adjourned to the small zareba, where I 
found to my horror that the remains of the camel which 
I had tied with a cord to a tree had vanished. It had been 
taken by the lioness directly our backs were turned. On 
listening, I could hear crunch, crunch going on in a thick 
bush close by. I went round the belt of bush, and wanted 
the men to rush her through to me, but not a man would 
enter, although they were all armed with rifles. I had to 
go in by myself It was ticklish work, and it was getting 
very dark, but I crept into the thick bushes and grass with 
my rifle at full- cock. I had not gone more than five or six 
yards when I heard an angry snarling cough, followed by 
a great rustling of grass as the great brute charged out on 
the other side. I just caught a glimpse of her hind-quarters 
with her tail held up on high as stiff as a poker. My 
disappointment was very great. It was so hard to be so 
close to lions and never to get a shot. I felt I was always 
alone, and never properly helped or backed up by my 
followers. 
It was now dark, so I slowly wended my way back to 
the little zareba with a heavy heart, dragging what little 
now remained of the dead baby camel. I sent for one 
of the donkeys, and tied him up in the moonlight — bad 
luck to the latter ! The donkey kept up a lively conver- 
