A DARING LION 
203 
It also, from a lion’s point of view, afforded a better sight 
of the donkey, which could be seen by him a long way off. 
I put my shikari in the other zareba outside which my 
young bull was tethered, the main camp being between us, 
some 200 yards from me. 
Directly the sun set I foresaw that it would be a very 
dark night, as the sky became overcast with heavy rain- 
clouds and a strong wind was blowing. It must have been 
ten o’clock and pitch dark, when suddenly we heard a 
tremendous commotion in camp on the other side of the 
dried-up lake. Men shouted and hooted, and this was 
followed by a perfect babel of talking. Then all was quiet 
for about five minutes, when another uproar arose, hisses, 
hoots and yells, again followed by absolute silence. I sat 
and marvelled. About three minutes after the second 
uproar, a shot was fired by my shikari in the second zareba. 
This was quickly followed by a second, and shortly after by 
a third. Nothing further occurred to disturb my night’s 
rest, and I awoke about 3 a.m. to find it intensely cold. I 
wrapped myself up as well as I could, but stop shivering I 
could not, and I knew that my fever was coming on again. 
About 3,30, when the moon came up, a caravan 
approached the wells to drink, singing loudly. Just 
before sunrise I was let out of the zareba, feeling very 
feverish and miserably cold. Whilst walking across the 
dried-up lake, close past a lot of wild geese and guinea- 
fowl, as tame as sparrows, I was met by one of my men, 
saying that the lion had sprung right over the zareba 
round my camp, run between a boy and a man who lay 
asleep a couple of feet apart, almost touching them, and 
killed my best milch goat, which was tethered to a stake 
in the very centre of the herd of camels. The sentry, 
who for a wonder was not asleep, seeing my pony prick his 
ears, and hearing him snort, suddenly caught sight of the 
lion close to him, and shouted to the men to be on their 
guard. All the men jumped up, yelled, hissed and hooted. 
The lion got bewildered, dropped the goat, and jumped out. 
