TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST 163 
following; he killed two cheetahs, and a fine maned lion, 
finer than any previously killed. There were three chee¬ 
tahs together. Kermit, who was with Tarlton, galloped 
the big male, and, although it had a mile’s start, ran into it 
in three miles, and shot it as it lay under a bush. He 
afterward shot another, a female, who was lying on a 
stone koppie. Neither made any attempt to charge; the 
male had been eating a tommy. The lion was with a 
lioness, which wheeled to one side, as the horsemen gal¬ 
loped after her maned mate. He turned to bay after a run 
of less than a mile, and started to charge from a distance 
of two hundred yards; but Kermit’s first bullets mortally 
wounded him and crippled him so that he could not come 
at any pace and was easily stopped before covering half the 
distance. Although nearly a foot longer than the biggest 
of the lions I had already killed, he was so gaunt—whereas 
they were very fat—that he weighed but little more, only 
four hundred and twelve pounds. 
The following day I was out by myself, after impalla 
and Roberts’ gazelle; and the day after I went out with 
Tarlton to try for lion. We were away from camp for 
over fifteen hours. Each was followed by his sais and 
gun-bearers, and we took a dozen porters also. The day 
may be worth describing, as a sample of the days when we 
did not start before dawn for a morning’s hunt. 
We left camp at seven, steering for a high, rocky hill, 
four miles off. We passed zebra and hartebeest, and on the 
hill came upon Chanler’s reedbuck; but we wanted none of 
these. Continually, Tarlton stopped to examine some 
distant object with his glasses, and from the hill we scanned 
the country far and wide; but we saw nothing we desired 
