That night the mountain
afforded a beautiful appearance as the flames ascended the steep
sides, and ran flickering up the deep gullies with a brilliant
light.
We were standing outside the tent admiring the scene, which
perfectly illuminated the neighbourhood, when suddenly an
apparition of a lion and lioness stood for an instant before us
at about fifteen yards distance, and then disappeared over the
blackened ground before I had time to snatch a rifle from the
tent. No doubt they had been disturbed from the mountain by the
fire, and had mistaken their way in the country so recently
changed from high grass to black ashes. In this locality I
considered it advisable to keep a vigilant watch during the
night, and the Arabs were told off for that purpose.
A little before sunrise I accompanied the howartis, or
hippopotamus hunters, for a day's sport. There were numbers of
hippos in this part of the river, and we were not long before we
found a herd. The hunters failed in several attempts to harpoon
them, but they succeeded in stalking a crocodile after a most
peculiar fashion. This large beast was lying upon a sandbank on
the opposite margin of the river, close to a bed of rushes.
Pages:
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472