With the caution born of
long experience I watched for a few moments before I entered the glade,
and then I saw why the elephant had trumpeted. There in the middle of
the glade stood a large maned lion. He stood quite still, making a soft
purring noise, and waving his tail to and fro. Presently the grass about
forty yards on the hither side of him gave a wide ripple, and a lioness
sprang out of it like a flash, and bounded noiselessly up to the lion.
Reaching him, the great cat halted suddenly, and rubbed her head against
his shoulder. Then they both began to purr loudly, so loudly that I
believe that in the stillness one might have heard them two hundred
yards or more away.
"After a time, while I was still hesitating what to do, either they got
a whiff of my wind, or they wearied of standing still, and determined
to start in search of game. At any rate, as though moved by a common
impulse, they bounded suddenly away, leap by leap, and vanished in the
depths of the forest to the left. I waited for a little while longer to
see if there were any more yellow skins about, and seeing none, came to
the conclusion that the lions must have frightened the elephants away,
and that I had taken my stroll for nothing. But just as I was turning
back I thought that I heard a bough break upon the further side of the
glade, and, rash as the act was, I followed the sound. I crossed the
glade as silently as my own shadow. On its further side the path went
on.
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