I Also Left Word For My
Friend Spooner, The District Engineer, Who
Happened To Be Absent From Camp Just At The
Moment, That I Had Gone After Two Lions, But
Hoped To Be Back By Nightfall.
We travelled at a good pace, and within an
hour had covered fully six miles; still there was
no sign of lions.
On the way we were joined
by some Wa Kamba, even more scantily attired
than our guide, and soon a dispute arose between
these hangers-on and the old Masai, who refused
to allow them to accompany us, as he was afraid
that they would seize all the zebra-meat that the
lions had not already eaten. However, I told him
not to bother, but to hurry up and show me the
lions, and that I would look after him all right.
Eventually, on getting to the low crest of one of
the long swells in the ground, our guide extended
a long skinny finger and said proudly, "Tazama,
Bwana" ("See, Master"). I looked in the
direction in which he pointed, and sure enough,
about six hundred yards off were a lion and a
lioness busily engaged on the carcase of a zebra.
On using my field-glasses, I was amused to
observe a jackal in attendance on the pair.
Every now and then he would come too close to
the zebra, when the lion would make a short
rush at him and scare him away. The little jackal
looked most ridiculous, scampering off before the
huge beast with his tail well down; but no
sooner did the lion stop and return to his meal
than he crept nearer again. The natives say,
by the way, that a lion will eat every kind of
animal - including even other lions - except a
jackal or a hyena. I was also interested to
notice the way in which the lion got at the flesh
of the zebra; he took a short run at the body,
and putting his claws well into the skin, in this
manner tore off great strips of the hide.
While I was thus studying the picture, my
followers became impatient at my inactivity,
and coming up to the top of the rise, showed
themselves on the sky-line. The lions saw them
at once, turning round and standing erect to stare
at them. There was not an atom of cover to
be seen, nor any chance of taking advantage
of the rolling ground, for it did not slope in
the required direction; so I started to walk in
the open in a sidelong direction towards the
formidable-looking pair. They allowed me to
come a hundred yards or so nearer them, and
then the lioness bolted, the lion following her at a
more leisurely trot. As soon as they left the
body of the zebra, my African following made a
rush for it, and began a fierce fight over the
remains, so that I had to restore order and leave
a coolie to see that our guide got the large
share, as he deserved.
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