s a very dangerous
thing to rely on a borrowed gun or rifle, unless it has precisely the
same action as one's own; and certainly in this instance it almost
proved disastrous.

Having thus seen to our rifles and ammunition and taken care also that
some brandy was put in the luncheon-basket in case of an accident, we
set off early in the afternoon in Spooner's tonga, which is a
two-wheeled cart with a hood over it. The party consisted of Spooner
and myself, Spooner's Indian shikari Bhoota, my own gun-boy Mahina, and
two other Indians, one of whom, Imam Din, rode in the tonga, while the
other led a spare horse called "Blazeaway." Now it may seem a strange
plan to go lion-hunting in a tonga, but there is no better way of
getting about country like the Athi Plains, where--so long as it is
dry--there is little or nothing to obstruct wheeled traffic. Once
started, we rattled over the smooth expanse at a good rate, and on the
way bagged a hartebeeste and a couple of gazelle, as fresh meat was
badly needed in camp; besides, they offered most tempting shots, for
they stood stock-still gazing at us, struck no doubt by the novel
appearance of our conveyance. Next we came upon a herd of wildebeeste,
and here we allowed Bhoota, who was a wary shikari and an old servant
of Spooner's, to stalk a solitary bull. He was highly pleased at this
favour, and did the job admirably.

At last we reached the spot where I had seen the two lions on the
previous day--a slight hollow, covered with long grass; but there was
now no trace of them to be discovered, so we moved further on and had
another good beat round. After some little time the excitement began by
our spying the black-tipped ears of a lioness projecting above the
grass, and the next moment a very fine lion arose from beside her and
gave us a full view of his grand head and mane. After staring fixedly
at us in an inquiring sort of way as we slowly advanced upon them, they
both turned and slowly trotted off, the lion stopping every now and
again to gaze round in our direction. Very imposing and majestic he
looked, too, as he thus turned his great shaggy head defiantly towards
us, and Spooner had to admit that it was the finest sight he had ever
seen. For a while we followed them on foot; but finding at length that
they were getting away from us and would soon be lost to sight over a
bit of rising ground, we jumped quickly into the tonga and galloped
round the base of the knoll so as to