CHAPTER XIII 
IN THE SWAMPS ON THE GUAS NGISHU. BEATING FOR 
LIONS WE CAME UPON A STRANGE AND FASCINAT¬ 
ING WILD BEAST, WHICH BECAME AT¬ 
TACHED TO OUR PARTY. THE LIT¬ 
TLE WANDEROBO DOG 
One of the most exciting phases of African hunt¬ 
ing is the beating of swamps for lion. A long 
skirmish line of native porters is sent in at one 
end of the swamp and, like a gigantic comb, sweeps 
every live thing ahead of it as it advances through 
the reeds. All kinds of swamp life are stirred into 
action, and a fairly large swamp will yield forth 
the contents of a pretty respectable menagerie. 
Sometimes a hyena or two will be flushed and once 
in a while a lion will be driven out. 
It is the constant expectation of the last-named 
animal that gives such keen and long sustained in¬ 
terest to the work of beating a swamp. One never 
knows what to expect. A suspicious stir in the reeds 
may mean a lion or only a hyena; an enormous 
crashing may sound like a herd of elephants, but 
finally resolve itself into a badly frightened reed- 
buck. Most of the time you expect reedbuck, but 
all the time you have to be ready for lion. As a 
general thing a lion will slink along in the reeds 
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