times fortune was on my side. On moonlight nights
I generally lay in wait for these animals with great
patience; sometimes I shot hippopotami, and used a
hind-quarter as a bait for lions, while I watched in
ambush at about twenty yards distance; hut the
hysenas generally appeared like evil spirits, and
dragged away the bait before the lions had a chance.
I never fired at these scavengers, as they are most
useful creatures, and are contemptible as game. My
Arabs had made their fortune, as I had given them all
the meat of the various animals, which they dried and
transported to Geera, together with fat, hides, &c. It
would he wearying to enumerate the happy hunting-
days passed throughout this country. We were never
ill for a moment: although the thermometer was
seldom below 88° during the day, the country was
healthy, as it was intensely dry, and therefore free
from malaria : at night the thermometer averaged
70°, which was a delightful temperature for those
who exist in the open air.
As our camp was full of meat, either dried or in
the process of drying in festoons upon the trees, we
had been a great attraction to the beasts of prey,
who constantly prowled around our thorn fence
during the night. One night in particular, a Hon
attempted to enter, but had been repulsed by the
Tokrooris, who pelted him with firebrands; my
people woke me up and begged me to shoot him,
but as it was perfectly impossible to fire correctly
through the hedge of thorns, I refused to be disturbed,
but I promised to hunt for him on the
following day. Throughout the entire night the
lion prowled around the camp, growling and uttering
his peculiar guttural sigh. Not one of my
people slept, as they declared he would bound into
the camp and take somebody, unless they kept up
the watch-fires and drove him away with brands.
The next day, before sunrise, I called Eassan and
Hadji Ali, whom I lectured severely upon their
cowardice on a former occasion, and I received their
promise to follow me. to death. I entrusted them
with my two Reillys No. 10; and with my little
Fletcher m hand, I determined to spend the whole
day in searching eveiy thicket of the forest for
hons, as I felt convinced that the animal that
had disturbed us during the night, was concealed
somewhere within the neighbouring jungle.
The whole day passed fruitlessly; I had crept
through the thickest thorns in vain ; having
abundance of meat, I had refused the most tempting
shots at buffaloes and large antelopes, as I had
devoted myself exclusively to lions. I was much
disappointed, as the evening had arrived without a
shot having been fired, and as the sun had nearly
set, I wandered slowly towards home. Passing
through alternate open glades of a few yards width,
hemmed in on all sides by thick jungle, I was
•carelessly carrying my rifle upon my shoulder, as
I pushed my way through the opposing thorns, when
■a sudden roar, just before me, at once brought the
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