“I had shot a zebra ... and turning out at five-thirty A. M. crept up
within sixty yards.... I saw in the middle of a circle of some two
hundred vultures a grand old lion, leisurely gnawing the ribs, and
behind, four little jackals sitting in a row.... Behind stretched
the limitless plain, streaked with mists shimmering in the growing
light of the rising sun, clumps of graceful palms fenced in a sandy
arena where the zebra had fallen and round his attenuated remains,
and just out of reach of the swish of the monarch’s tail, the solid
circle of waiting vultures, craning their bald necks, chattering and
hustling one another, and the more daring quartette within the magic
circle like four little images of patience, while the lion in all his
might and matchless grandeur of form, leisurely chewed and scrunched
the titbits, magnificently regardless of the watchful eyes of the
encircling canaille.... I watched the scene for fully ten minutes, then
as he showed signs of moving I took the chance afforded of a broadside
shot and bowled him over with the .500 magnum. In inserting another
cartridge the gun jammed, and he rose, but after looking round for the
cause of the interruption, without success, started off at a gallop.
With a desperate effort I closed the gun and knocked him over again. He
was a fine black-maned lion and as he lay in a straight line from tip
to top ten feet, four inches, a very unusual length.”
Among the volcanoes near Lake Kivo, Grogan discovered a big one that
had been thrown up within the last two years, and there were vast new
floods of lava, hard to cross. One day, while searching out a route
for the expedition, he had just camped at a height of nine thousand
feet in the forest when he found the fresh tracks of a bull elephant,
and the spoor was much larger than he had ever seen. When he overtook
this giant the jungle was so dense that only the ridge of his back was
visible, and for some time he watched the animal picking the leaves off
a tree. When fodder ran short he tore down a tree whose trunk was two
feet thick, and fearing he might move on, Grogan fired. The elephant
fell, but recovered and clashed away, so that there were some hours of
tracking before the hunter could catch up again. And now on a flaw of
wind the giant scented him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account