186 
HUNTING IN THE SOTIK [ch. yiii 
lioness directly at its foot, not twelve feet away, lying 
flat on her belly. I could only see the aftermost third 
of her back. I at once fired into her spine. With 
appalling grunts she dragged herself a few paces down¬ 
hill ; and another bullet behind the shoulder finished 
her. 
She was skinned as rapidly as possible, and just before 
sundown we left the koppie. At its foot was a deserted 
Masai cattle kraal, and a mile from this was a shallow, 
muddy pool, fouled by the countless herds of game that 
drank thereat. Toward this we went, so that the thirsty 
horses and men might drink their full. As we came 
near we saw three rhinoceroses leaving the pool. It was 
already too dusk for good shooting, and we were rather 
relieved when, after some inspection, they trotted oft 
and stood at a little distance in the plain. Our men 
and horses drank, and then we began our ten miles’ 
march through the darkness to camp. One of Kermit’s 
gun-bearers saw a puff-adder (among the most deadly 
of all snakes) ; with delightful nonchalance he stepped 
on its head, and then held it up for me to put my knife 
through its brain and neck. I slipped it into my saddle 
pocket, where its blood stained the pigskin cover of the 
little pocket “Nibelungenlied” which 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 
behind between two porters, a dead puff-adder in my 
saddle pocket, and three rhinos threatening us in the 
darkness to one side, we marched campward through 
the African night. 
