African Game Trails 
533 
the Hills in return had killed several lions. 
The Hills were fine fellows; Africanders, 
as their forefathers for three generations 
had been, and frontiersmen of the best 
kind. From the first moment they and I 
became fast friends, for we instinctively 
understood one another, and found that we 
felt alike on all the big questions, and looked 
angered, they are cautious on bare ground. 
He halted, and then walked slowly to one 
side; and then slowly forward toward his 
house. The lions followed him with their 
eyes, and when he had passed they rose and 
slouched after him. They were not pleasant 
followers, but to hurry would have been fa¬ 
tal; and he walked slowly on along the 
A zebra shot by Mr Roosevelt. 
From a photograph by Edmund Heller. 
at life, and especially the life of effort led by 
the pioneer settler, from the same stand¬ 
point. They reminded me, at every mo¬ 
ment, of those Western ranchmen and home¬ 
makers with whom I have always felt a 
special sense of companionship and with 
whose ideals and aspirations I have al¬ 
ways felt a special sympathy. A couple of 
months before my visit, Harold Hill had 
met with a rather unpleasant adventure. 
He was walking home across the lonely 
plains, in the broad daylight, never dream¬ 
ing that lions might be abroad, and was 
unarmed. When still some miles from 
his house, while plodding along, he glanced 
up and saw three lions in the trail only fifty 
yards off, staring fixedly at him. It hap¬ 
pened to be a place where the grass was 
rather tall, and lions are always bold where 
there is the slightest cover; whereas, unless 
Vol. XLVI.—61 
road, while for a mile he kept catching 
glimpses of the tawny bodies of the beasts 
as they trod stealthily forward through the 
sunburned grass, alongside or a little be¬ 
hind him. Then the grass grew short, and 
the lions halted and continued to gaze 
after him until he disappeared over a rise. 
Everywhere throughout the country we 
were crossing were signs that the lion was 
lord and that his reign was cruel. There 
were many lions, for the game on which 
they feed was extraordinarily abundant. 
They occasionally took the ostriches or 
stock of the settlers, or ravaged the herds 
and flocks of the natives, but not often; 
for their favorite food was yielded by the 
swarming herds of kongoni and zebras, on 
which they could prey at will. Later we 
found that they did not molest the buffalo, 
even where they lived in the same reed- 
