when, much to my astonishment, I saw them, one after
the other, stagger to their feet, and, slowly at first, but
quickly enough in a moment or two, set out after the
rest of the herd. I can account for this only upon the
supposition that each one of my four bullets had just
grazed the spine, and simply stunned the animals, which
upon recovering from the effects of the shock were able
to get up and run away. We searched for them several
C a m p o n t h e P l a i n n e a A L o r i a n
hours, but were unable to find them. In the spot where
each animal had lain there was blood in plenty, but that
was the only evidence that the sighting and shooting of
these animals had been other than a dream.
On several occasions, both Lieutenant von Hohnel
and I killed zebra at distances varying from 600 to 800
paces. This only happened where the country was so
open that we were unable to get closer to the game.
The weapon used in these cases was, of course, a Mann-
licher, the far-carrying properties of which, during our
entire journey, never seemed tested to their utmost.
The trajectory of a bullet fired from one of these rifles
seemed to be perfectly flat for any distance at which the
eye could see the object.
After we had crossed the Guaso Nyiro I had an interesting
adventure with a lion. It had rained during the
morning, and in consequence the soil had become a sea
of clinging mud. I was some distance in front of my
caravan, and had just shot a grantii, when my gun-bearer
and I heard some curious, whining noises in the bushes
to our. left. He (Karscho) said he thought there was a
hyena about; so we approached cautiously in the direction
from which we had heard the noise. Suddenly
Karscho seized my arm, pointed to the right, and whispered
in an excited manner, “ Simba" (“ lion”); and there
I saw, standing and gazing calmly at us, a full-grown
animal, maneless, hence probably a female. I had foolishly
entrusted my gun to Karscho, and before I could
take it from his hands the lion wheeled and was off
through the bushes. We were after it at once. Its
great paws left prints in the mud as large as saucers,
so that pursuit was easy. It would run 100 yards or so,
and then hide in a bush, waiting our nearer approach,
when it would again break cover and be off once more,
but always on the opposite side of the bush from where
we stood, so that wg never got a sight of the animal.
In this way we chased the lion for nearly half a mile,
until at length we came to a circular clump of bush,
some sixty feet in diameter and very dense. We circled
this clump, and found that the tracks of the animal led
into, but not out of i t ; so I stationed myself down-wind,
and sent Karscho back to bring on my porters, with the