VIII 
JOURNEY TO WEB BE SHABELEH RIVER 217 
into a long, dark jungle of mimosas, and we lost sight of him 
for the time. The remains of the beisa lay where the lion had 
dropped them on being hit, and the path he had taken was 
visible by the blood plentifully sprinkled and smeared on the 
grass. 
The hunt became exciting as we followed into the dense 
Jchansa bushes, whose Hat, widespread tops, meeting at a 
height of about five feet, formed dark alleys, through which 
the lion kept on at the same pace. We skirted along a 
hundred yards to our right, to a thin place in the covert, and 
then crossing and searching the farther edge found his tracks 
leading out into another glade, and so, leaving the jungle 
behind, we held on after him. Finding he had gone into 
another of these dark Ichansa jungles, we made a circuit round 
the outside till we were opposite to where he had gone in ; but 
we found he had not left the Tehama , so we continued round the 
edge till we came to the point where we had abandoned the 
tracks as they entered the jungle. He was evidently in the 
covert, which we had ringed completely ; and there was nothing 
to be done but to follow the blood along these alleys till we 
came on him. We should find one of three things : either 
the lion would be seen alive in the covert, where I hoped to 
shoot him ; or we should find he had bounded away in front 
of us ; or we should find him lying dead. Following a wounded 
lion into the Ichansa is exciting work, because if he charges 
there is so little room that it is possible one may shoot a man 
instead of the lion ; and also when pressing through with 
rifle at full cock, the slightest catching of the triggers or 
hammers in the branches would cause an accident. 
Moving into the thicket yard by yard, we found where the 
lion had been lying while we had been walking round on the 
outside ; and he had got up and bounded away out of the covert, 
his pugs on the soft sand outside showing that he had only just 
gone. We followed him for nearly three miles, through glades 
of grass and dense strips of Ichansa , taking the precaution to 
“ring” each strip to ascertain whether he had gone out on 
the farther side, thereby avoiding unnecessary danger and loss 
of time. Many times he managed to sneak away without 
being seen when we were close to him ; so, as the sun was now 
hot, and we were done up with the hard work, we sat down to 
consult ; we thought that if we left him sitting in one place 
long enough to get his wounds stiff, there would be more chance 
