ut 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 s