118 
THE NEW AFRICA 
capable of acting both behind and before, coupled to his heroic 
spirit, is the most formidable animal the lion can attack. Old 
Unkok, a native hunter who accompanied me in one of my 
earlier hunting trips, came home to camp one day in great excite¬ 
ment and related a lion-quagga hunt he had just witnessed. He 
was stalking to get within short range of a large troop of quagga, 
quite sure of being unobserved and unscented, as the wind was 
in the right quarter, yet the quaggas displayed an uneasiness 
that he was at a loss to account for, looking about from the 
short grass they were standing in to some bushes close by and 
stamping their feet. Suddenly they all fled down the wind, 
when from a thicket which they passed two lions sprang out and 
seized a quagga. One caught it by the nose, and the other, 
jumping on its back, lacerated the screaming animal fearfully 
until it fell under its burden, and when it was down they killed 
it by biting its neck. Old Unkok the hunter made up his mind 
to have that skin, and advanced on the lions with his gun in one 
hand, waving his hat with the other, and shouting to scare the 
lions away. They waited until he was within thirty yards of 
them, growling and trying to frighten him off with pretended 
rushes, and then moved off some thirty yards while he hurriedly 
skinned the quagga. All the time while he was at work skin¬ 
ning, the lions roared, and several times looked as if they would 
charge down on him, until, as he dragged the skin away, they 
rushed furiously at the meat, coming within ten yards of Unkok, 
who, while making good his retreat, was surprised to see three 
more lions, advancing from different directions, make for the 
quagga carcass. 
This event led to an explanation of lions’ tactics when hunting 
in troops. First marking a troop of game, the stronger members 
of the family take up advantageous positions below the wind, 
crawling unseen as near as possible in the direction the game is 
likely to fly, and when this is accomplished a sagacious old 
feline, stealthily taking a circuitous route, gets above the wind 
in a position likely to send the game in the desired direction 
immediately they scent him, thus driving the frightened herd 
