two days we traveled through very
sparsely settled country, where the wild
beasts of the forests roam at will, and
where the lion holds undisputed sway as
king of beasts. We saw evidences of the
presence of almost every kind of antelope
as we passed along the road, and the
tracks of leopard, jackal, hyena, and lion
were much in evidence.
Since we were pressed for time we
frequently drove late into the night
before making camp, and at the close
of the first day’s drive through this
section it was about 9:30 before we
decided to pull up and rest until morning.
We were short of water, having crossed
no streams since early morning, and
as it was a sandy country and the roads
heavy, we felt it necessary to save the
little that remained in the reserve tank
for use in the motor car radiator the
next morning. This meant that it was
impossible to cook supper; and since
it was growing late, we consoled our-
selves by declaring that we would rather
sleep than eat anyway. Had we known
then how little sleep we were to get that
night, we probably should have felt
quite different about it.
Just as we were beginning to unload
the car, James said, ‘‘ Bwana, this is no
good place to sleep.”
“Why?” 1 asked.
“Because there are lions here.
hear them.”
I thought at first that he was only a
bit frightened, since he knew that it
was a very wild section, and perhaps
because we had been warned that a
little while before a party that had
camped near here had been visited by
lions and one of their native boys had
been carried awav. However, we all
fell silent and listened, and in a moment
I can
we heard a familiar roar from a distance
of perhaps a mile.
We laughed and went on with the
preparations for camp, but decided to
take the precaution of gathering suf-
ficient dry wood, plenty of which lay
all about, to keep a fire all through the
night. At intervals of about two minutes,
as these preparations proceeded, the
roar was repeated, and it became louder
and more distinct with each repetition,
thus giving evidence that the lion was
approaching nearer.
Two roaring fires were lighted, one
on either side of our cots, and with rifles
loaded and at hand we had our evening
worship and went directly to bed and
to sleep.
E HAD slept perhaps no more
than half an hour when James’
whispered words awoke us with a start.
“Bwana, the lions are here. There
stands one by the car. There are two
or three of them. I can hear others
rustling the leaves in the bushes!”
I rubbed my eyes, and peering out
from under my mosquito net was just
saying, ‘‘Ah, James, you only heard
the fire crackling,” when Mr. Boger
PAGE TWENTY-EIGHT
whispered, “I see him.” In another
instant a big, black-maned lion stepped
out into the firelight, giving me a full,
broadside view of himself. In a second
I seized my rifle, but before I could take
aim, he had again slipped into the
shadow, and begun stalking us, circling
from one side of the camp to the other.
We did not again get sight of him
nor of his companions, but we could
hear his stately stepping as he paced
back and forth, now at a greater distance,
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now very close to where we were
crouched, rifles in hand, near the cots.
Of course the roaring had ceased, and
from his maneuvers we knew that we
were being hunted. A lion may roar
when simply roaming about or after a
feed, but not while stalking his game.
Then he is as silent as a cat and as wise
as a serpent.
Little Matthew became so frightened
that he tried to crawl under a cot for
refuge, but finding this to be impossible
he crouched down near my feet and kept
as silent as a mouse. At times several
moments would pass without our hearing
a sound, and at such times the stillness
could almost be felt. Of course not an
animal, large or small, would dare make a
move while a lion was near, and there-
fore a silence as of death had [allen
upon the jungle; and the silence of an
African jungle at night has to be ex-
perienced in order to be appreciated.
Then again we would hear a twig break
or a leaf rustle in another direction, and
we knew that our foe had passed quietly
to a new position.
ESPAIRING of a favorable oppor-
tunity to get a shot at him, after
some two hours of watchful waiting,
we decided to rebuild the fires and see
if we could not frighten him away. As
the light of the fires increased and we
began to move about, we heard him
quietly moving away from the position
he had finally taken up, and in a few
moments we heard his roar several
hundred yards away and an answer
from his mate on the other side, but
still farther away.
With our rifles beside us, we again
lay down on our cots and soon fell asleep.
The roaring continued almost all the
night, and we were frequently aroused
by the falling of a dead twig or the
flutter of a bird in the branches of the
overhanging trees. Once Mr. Boger
moved in his sleep and said, “There, I
see his eyes glowing in the firelight!
Now I will get him!” But before he
could get in that shot that was so surely
to slay our disturber he became suf-
ficiently awake to realize that he had
only had a dream, and Mr. Lion was
still roaring at him, by this time hall a
mile away.
At daybreak we arose and found the
footprints of two lions and a leopard
in the soft sand, all about our camp, some
of them only sixteen paces from where
we had been lying, and we felt grateful
to God that we had been awakened in
time to be on the alert, probably the only
thing that saved us from the loss of at
least one of our company.
The remainder of our journey to
Elizabethville was uneventful, and as
we had good roads most of the way we
made the entire journey from Lepi in
about six days’ running time.
We returned with a profound convic-
tion of the magnitude of the task still
before us in the many unentered sections
of Central Africa, and with a prayer in
our hearts that the Lord of the harvest
may speedily send forth laborers to
gather the ripening grain into the
garner.
Is Any Bank Safe?
(Continued from page 17)
deep enough, and make a bank strong
enough, to keep out the God of heaven
when He “rises to shake terribly the
earth,” and to be the antagonist of
avaricious nations and men in the great
day of Armageddon? It is almost un-
believable the lengths to which men will
go in acquiring and guarding riches; but
all of it our God will bring to naught.
Better work now for the ‘‘ hidden riches”
that save us for eternal life, when gold
will be pavement and precious stones the
pebbles of the brook.
THE WATCHMAN MAGAZINE