58 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 
roar. I say for the first time, because in my superiority 
I tell you that the grunting, short, peevish crying heard 
in the great cat house at the Zoo at feeding-time cannot 
be called roaring, after one has heard the wonderful 
sound of His Majesty hunting. My heart seemed to 
stand still with awe as I listened to that never-to- 
be-forgotten sound. Terrific and majestic, it rever- 
berated through the silence of the night, and seemed 
to repeat itself in echoes when all was really still. 
The dawn is the time when lions roar most. They 
occasionally give tongue when actually hunting, often 
after feeding. The sound varies with the age and lung 
power of the animal, and has many gradations, some- 
times sounding as though the pain of doing it at all hurt 
the throat, sometimes the sound comes in great abrupt 
coughs, and again one hears even triumphant roars. 
We rose early. Indeed, I do not think we slept 
again after hearing the longed-for serenade, and 
arranging for all the hunters to accompany us, set off 
on our new steeds to spoor for lion. After about six 
miles of roughish going we struck the tracks. We 
examined them with the greatest interest, and Clarence 
demonstrated to us the evidence that the spoor was 
very new indeed, that the lions were two in number, 
and going at a walking pace. I soon learnt when a 
lion was walking and when he commenced to run. 
The lion, being a cat, has retractile claws, and there- 
fore when he walks the pugs are even and rounded. 
The instant he alters the pace and runs, the nail- 
marks are plain, and the sand is usually slightly furred 
up by the pad. 
