the glaring, hot African sun, when I wanted to go to
sleep; and I was very hungry. We, I and my wife, lay down in the shade a
little while towards evening before we parted to see what we could pick
up. There were the little ones to be considered, for when they had come
running up and seen me with nothing, all their little tails dropped
down, and you never saw such a set of little cats in your life. I told
them I would bring them something next time for certain; and so I set
off alone, as I said before, in the evening.

'The sun had burnt up all the grass, which was a kind of dusty brick-red
colour; but that's not a bad thing for a lion, because he doesn't show
against it. It was a very wide open plain where I was, with just a few
shrubs and odd bits of tree for shelter. Well, I crouched down under one
of these, trying to make myself as small as I could, and praying that
the still air wouldn't send the smell of me over the plain to warn all
those silly creatures I wanted to catch.

'Presently I smelt zebra. Now, good tender zebra makes a dish fit for a
king, but the brute can trot at such a rate that I knew I shouldn't have
a chance to catch him running. I must hide and leap out. The smell got
stronger and stronger, and then I saw them half a mile off, a whole
herd, galloping just as straight as they could come towards my
hiding-place. I grew hot and cold then, I can tell you, and my tail
quivered so I was afraid they would see it. I was in fine condition, and
I reckoned that at the distance they would pass I could just by a very
long spring land on the back of the leader. But then they might at any
moment scent me, and I should be done for; up with their heels, and
nothing more of supper should I see but a cloud of dust. So I waited,
and they came right on. I shook with excitement. Then, just at the right
moment, I gathered myself up, and with a great spring I cleared the
distance and landed clean on the back of the leader. That was a surprise
for him, I can tell you. He went down as if he had been shot, and the
others, with snorts of terror, flew away like the wind. One stroke of my
paw killed him, and then I stood up over his striped and quivering body
and roared as loud as I could for my wife and little ones. They weren't
far off, and they came as fast as they could; and to see those little
beggars dancing about that zebra was a sight, almost as good a feeling
it gave me as when I landed on that zebra's back. It had