HUNTING IN THE SOTIK 
189 
that day I happened to carry. Immediately afterward 
there was a fresh alarm from our friends the three rhinos; 
dismounting, and crouching down, we caught the loom of 
their bulky bodies against the horizon; but a shot in the 
ground seemed to make them hesitate, and they finally con¬ 
cluded not to charge. So, with the lion skin swinging be¬ 
hind between two porters, a moribund puff adder in my 
saddle pocket, and three rhinos threatening us in the dark¬ 
ness to one side, we marched campward through the African 
night. 
Next day we shifted camp to a rush-fringed pool by a 
grove of tall, flat-topped acacias at the foot of a range of 
low, steep mountains. Before us the plain stretched, and 
in front of our tents it was dotted by huge candelabra 
euphorbias. I shot a buck for the table just as we pitched 
camp. There were Masai kraals and cattle herds near by, 
and tall warriors, pleasant and friendly, strolled among 
our tents, their huge razor-edged spears tipped with furry 
caps to protect the points. Kermit was off all day with 
Tarlton, and killed a magnificent lioness. In the morning, 
on some high hills, he obtained a good impalla ram, after 
persevering hours of climbing and running—for only one 
of the gun-bearers and none of the whites could keep up 
with him on foot when he went hard. In the afternoon 
at four he and Tarlton saw the lioness. She was followed 
by three three-parts grown young lions, doubtless her cubs, 
and, without any concealment, was walking across the 
open plain toward a pool by which lay the body of a wilde¬ 
beest bull she had killed the preceding night. The smaller 
lions saw the hunters and shrank back, but the old lioness 
never noticed them until they were within a hundred and 
