164 
TREKKING 
[CH. VII 
ahead of us in the tall grass, but I missed it. Then, 
trotting on foot, I got ahead of two wart-hog boars, and 
killed the biggest; making a bad initial miss and then 
emptying my magazine at it as it ran. We sent it in to 
camp, and went on, following a donga, or small water¬ 
course, fringed with big acacias. The afternoon was 
wearing away, and it was time for lions to be abroad. 
The sun was near the horizon when Tarlton thought 
he saw something tawny in the watercourse ahead of 
us, behind a grassy ant-hill, toward which we walked 
after dismounting. Some buck were grazing peacefully 
beyond it, and for a moment we supposed that this was 
what he had seen. Rut as we stood, one of the porters 
behind called out 44 Simba !” and we caught a glimpse of 
a big lioness galloping down beside the trees, just 
beyond the donga ; she was out of sight in an instant. 
Mounting our horses, we crossed the donga ; she was 
not to be seen, and we loped at a smart pace parallel 
with the line of trees, hoping to see her in the open. 
But, as it turned out, as soon as she saw us pass, she 
crouched in the bed of the donga. We had gone by her 
a quarter of a mile when a shout from one of our 
followers announced that he had seen her, and back we 
galloped, threw ourselves from our horses, and walked 
toward where the man was pointing. Tarlton took his 
big double-barrel and advised me to take mine, as the 
sun had just set and it was likely to be close work ; but 
I shook my head, for the Winchester *405 is, at least 
for me personally, the 44 medicine gun ” for lions. In 
another moment up she jumped, and galloped slowly 
down the other side of the donga, switching her tail 
and growling. I scrambled across the donga, and just 
before she went round a clump of trees, eighty yards 
off, I fired. The bullet hit her fair, and going forward, 
