06
A Midnight Lion Hunt
Mr. and Mrs. Martin Johnson are famous for the moving pictures of wild animals they have taken in many parts of the world. On one of their trips to Africa they had as their guests three Boy Scouts: Robert Douglas, Jr., of Greensboro, North Carolina; David Martin, Jr., of Austin, Minnesota; and Douglas Oliver, of Atlanta, Georgia.
In this story these boys tell you of "the most exciting adventure" they had on the trip.
WAITING FOR THE LIONS
We all came home agreed about the most exciting adventure of our trip; it was the night we spent in the truck surrounded by hungry lions.
The sides of our truck were of heavy wire. As it had a good top, only the front and back had to be closed. These were made secure by lashing poles across both openings. After we got into the truck, we wired poles across the front, and thus shut off the seat from the rest of the truck.
We knew that we were safe from lions, yet we all felt a little nervous when Mr. Johnson left us. We changed to our sleeping clothes while it was still light, and ate the lunch which Mrs. Johnson had prepared for us. Just as we started to eat, Dave said something about this being our last meal on earth. We all laughed, but little remarks like that at such a time make one feel rather uneasy. To be sure, we had arranged with Mr. Johnson to fire the rifle twice if we needed him, but what good would that do if he were quite a distance away and the lions only a few feet?
After eating lunch in a silence broken only by a few strained whispers, we crawled under the blankets. We had been told that if the lions heard a human voice they would instantly run. It was likely, though, that even if the animals were not afraid, we would have whispered because we were all so excited. Douglas said something about getting a lion into the truck and then jumping out. This started Dave laughing. He buried his head in the pillow and laughed until we thought he was crying. When he called out, "You fellows will kill me yet!" we all began laughing, at the same time trying not to make a sound.
TAKING THE LION'S PICTURE
We had been turned in about half an hour when we suddenly heard a bone crack. We slowly rose up and peeped out between the poles across the opening in the rear. Instead of the hyenas
we had expected, we saw an old lion. He had a short mane, but he was a big fellow. When we saw him, we all started shaking. It was not so much the fright as it was seeing a big lion just a few feet away.
As we watched, he started eating away on the zebra that had been placed there for bait. Now and then he snarled and growled deeply in his throat. We turned the flashlight on him; but instead of running away, he only crouched down behind the zebra. For several minutes we watched him. After a while he got over his fear of the light and began once more to eat. Mr. Johnson says that he thinks the lions believe the flash of a hand-light or of a flare to be only lightning in the sky. Whatever this one thought, he showed no fear.
Finally we started whistling to make him hold his head up. When we first whistled, he ran off a few feet but soon returned. We whistled again, and he just looked up at us. Now Dick caught hold of the two wires which controlled the flares. To set them off the wires had to be touched together. The lion looked up just then, but he was not in the right position. Dick was going to whistle once more, but just as he drew in his breath, the flare went off with a loud report and a blinding flash. His hands had been shaking so that the wires had touched without his knowing it. We teased Dick about that for the rest of the trip. But from the way the truck was shaking at the time, our hands and bodies were trembling as much as his.
Then this conversation took place.
Dick said: "I bet the lion wasn't even in the picture."
Douglas answered: "I expect Mr. and Mrs. Johnson think we are crazy, taking a picture at this time of night."
In a few minutes we heard Mr. Johnson calling. Douglas whispered: "I bet they are laughing at us. They're saying, 'Those boys probably photographed a hyena, mistaking it for a lion.' "
Mr. Johnson called: "What did you get?"
"Only a lion," we answered in a careless way.
"Well, go to sleep, " he yelled back. "We'll see in the morning."
We all crawled under our blankets, thinking it was all over for the night. This was about eight o'clock. We remained awake for half an hour; then dropped off to sleep.
MORE LIONS COME
Several hours later we were awakened by a violent shake of the truck. We heard growling outside. After some minutes of lying in bed, shivering with both fright and excitement, we got up enough courage to shine our lights out the back. Just under us was an old lioness calmly chewing on a tire. Twenty-five feet away on the bait, we saw four other lions. And as we watched, two more joined in. Then the old lioness went back to the group. There were three big ones with manes, three smaller ones, and one toto, or young one. Surely we believe it was the most exciting moment of our lives, and also one of the most interesting.
In spite of their fierce looks, the lions were exactly like a bunch of cats quarreling over a meal. They lay there, one at the head of the zebra, two at the back, two at the side, and one on the haunches. The toto stood off a few feet, watching his chance to slip into the feast. Our light seemed not to bother them, for they just looked up now and then and blinked. However, the one whom we had made the picture of before seemed a bit suspicious. When we moved the light, he would crouch down behind the zebra. Perhaps he had been frightened by the flash of the camera flares. But he soon got over his fright, and took his place among the others.
After a while the toto crawled up beside one of the big fellows. As long as he kept to his place, he was allowed to eat. But once when he got up too close and started for the same bit of meat as one of the others, the big lion rose up and gave him a slap. It seemed a light blow, but it sent the youngster sprawling into the grass. He jumped up and ran over to the other side of the zebra, where he lay down beside a lioness, probably his mother.
After we had watched them for some time by the light of our flashlights, we noticed that one of the cameras had been knocked down. We were just discussing this in whispers when one of the big lions left the zebra, walked over to the fallen camera, and began chewing on it. Then he grabbed it in his mouth and started dragging it away. Suddenly in some way one of the legs of the tripod flew up and hit him. He jumped almost twenty feet. In a few minutes he came back to it; slowly at first, but when he saw it did not move, he pounced on it.
We felt that there was nothing we could do. None of us would have got out of the truck for any three-hundred-dollar camera. In a few minutes one of the lions left the zebra and came over to the other camera, which was still standing. She rubbed her head against it and chewed the wires connecting the cameras with the flares. We whistled and hissed to frighten her from it, but it did no good.
Finally Dick yelled, "Scat, you heathen, scat! " Then Douglas shouted, "Get away! We've told you twice!"
The sound of our voices finally frightened the lioness from the camera and scared the others away for a while. They soon returned, however, and continued their meal.
We watched them for about an hour before we lay down again. But just as we decided to go to sleep, we heard a slight noise up in the front of the truck. Dick grabbed his flashlight and crawled up to the poles that separated the front seat from the body of the truck. Shining his light out through the bars, we saw the head of a lioness not three feet away! She had one foot on the fender and one on the floor board, and she had stuck her head up to the seat. When she saw the light, she only blinked her eyes and crawled back down.
We said not a word. It was the first time we had ever seen a lion try to drive a truck, and the sight gave us quite a shock. We came back to our blankets and waited several minutes before we felt like turning in again. We all lay perfectly still for a while and at last dropped off to sleep.
THE RETURN TO CAMP
In the morning when Mr. Johnson came over and woke us, we told him about the night. He laughed for half an hour. The loss of one of his cameras did not seem to worry him. He said that our experience was worth it if the picture of the first lion was good. Of course the plate in the smashed camera was ruined, but the one in the other was all right. He and Mrs. Johnson had heard the lions roaring and growling over on our bait, but they had never suspected there were seven.
When we returned to camp, we were all very sleepy. So after breakfast we lay down for a while. But we were soon up again.
Mrs. Johnson, active and energetic as usual, spent the morning out hunting for lions with her native guide. She was not going to shoot, but just find them for picture making. In the meantime, Mr. Johnson developed the picture made the night before. About the middle of the morning he called us over to where he was developing. He let out a whoop and we came running. We found that there was nothing the matter; he just wanted us to see the proof of the picture we had made. We had been afraid that the lion was not in the right position; but when we saw the picture, we were satisfied. We had caught the lion broad-side, standing over the zebra, a good likeness of the King of Beasts himself.
NOTES AND QUESTIONS
1. Find the lines that tell what you think was the most exciting part of this adventure. Be ready to read them.
2. Find a part that you think was funny, and be ready to read it. You may not all agree.
3. Would you rather hunt animals with a gun or with a camera? Give reasons for your answer.
4. Is it more dangerous to hunt with a camera or with a gun? Give reasons for your answer.
5. Be ready to read or tell something about how the lions acted.
6. Have you ever felt as the boys did—a little nervous even though you knew you were safe? Tell about it.