CHAPTER XIII.
THE LIONS FIND THE BUFFALO.
E a r ly on the following morning the lions were still
roaring, apparently within a hundred yards of the.:
camp. I accordingly took a Reilly No. 10, double
rifle, and accompanied by my wife, who was anxious
to see these glorious animals, and who carried my
little Fletcher No. 24, I skirted the outside of the
jungle on the high bank, on the narrow arm of the
river. We were not long in finding traces of the
lions. A broad track in the sandy bed of the
dried stream showed where the buffalo had been
dragged across to the thick and impervious green
bushes, exactly beneath us on the margin of the
river. A hind quarter of the buffalo, much gnawed,
lay within seven or eight paces of us, among the
bushes that had been trampled down, and the dung
of numerous lions lay upon the open ground near
the place of their concealment. We had two
Tokrooris with us, carrying spare rifles, and I felt
sure that the lions were within the bushes of dense
nabbuk, which concealed them as perfectly as though
behind a closed curtain. We approached within
three or four yards of this effective screen, when
suddenly we heard the cracking of bones, as the
lions feasted, in their den close to u s; they would
not show themselves, nor was there any possibility
of obtaining a shot; therefore, after ascending the high
bank, and waiting for some time in the hope that
one might emerge to drag away the exposed portion
of the buffalo, we returned to camp.
The aggageers had already returned from a re-
connaisance of the country, as they had started
before daybreak in search of elephants ; they reported
the fresh tracks of a herd, and they begged
me to lose no time in accompanying them, as the
elephants might retreat to a great distance. There
was no need for this advice; in a few minutes my
horse Tdtel was saddled, and my six Tokrooris
and Bacheet, with spare rifles, were in attendance.
Bacheet, who had so ingloriously failed in his first
essay at Wat el Ndgur, had been so laughed at
by the girls of the village for his want of pluck,
that he had declared himself ready to face the devil
rather than the ridicule of the fair sex; and, to do
him justice, he subsequently became a first-rate lad
in moments of danger.
The aggageers were quickly mounted. It was a
sight most grateful to a sportsman to witness the
start of these superb hunters, who with the sabres
slung from. the saddle-bow, as though upon an
everyday occasion, now left the camp with these