There was no road leading to where we were going, nor track, nor path, of any kind. No safari had ever gone there before. From the height of Kijabe station we had seen what looked to be a long, low mound in the distant veldt. The southern end of that long, low mound was our destination.
The horsemen, as usual, spread out in a widely extended line and passed in front of the wagons and porters. As we penetrated farther into the valley the nature of the country altered. Open parks and stretches of scrub succeeded one another, with here and there a dry donga cutting deep into the ground. As we approached the mound it rapidly grew in height and the black rocks commenced to appear beneath the covering of verdure.
Among the settlers of the district this mound is called the Black Reef. It is the general opinion that the Black Reef is formed of lava that long ago flowed down into the plain from the crater of Longernot. The sides, which rise almost perpendicularly to a height of some two hundred feet, are composed of jagged blocks of stone, honeycombed with deep caves and caverns. The top is covered with thick scrub and creepers and tall, rank grasses. To the southward it ends abruptly, as though the lava flow had suddenly stopped and cooled.
Under the shadow of the Black Reef the hunting party was divided into three parts. The day was too far advanced for any real hunting to be done, but as long as the light lasted the Colonel wanted to make a personal survey of the ground in the immediate vicinity of the rocks. Accordingly he rode to the northern end of the reef, sending the two cowboys to the plains to the south, while the rest remained where we had halted, behind the southern shoulder, to wait for the arrival of the wagons and make camp. But the only incident of the afternoon was a thunder cloud that rose up out of the north and hung there, and then gradually disappeared as the twilight advanced. The others were late in coming in. The Colonel in the north had found tracks—innumerable tracks of different kinds of beasts—all excepting those of the lion. In the south the two cowboys had found a large mixed herd of game; and Loveless had dismounted to shoot for meat, when out of the herd a rhino charged him and he had to kill it to save himself.
"Well, so long as he's dead we'll let him lie where he is," said the Colonel. "Lions are mighty fond of rhino meat. They'll travel miles to get it. Day after to-morrow, say just at dawn, we ought to be able to pick up a fresh trail there. If we don't, it will mean that the lions are no longer here, that's all."
Loveless grunted some unintelligible comment.
"Might as well be cheerful," said Means. "We're not beat yet."
The first real hunting day commenced at daylight the next morning. Hour after hour the horsemen traveled the plains, back and forth, and across and around, and carefully searched the base of the Black Reef on every side. Only one spot was left untouched. The Colonel decreed that no one should approach where the dead rhino lay, lest our presence there should arouse suspicion too soon. The rhino was a sort of special chance that was to be saved for the proper time.
The day was unusually still and cloudless. Here and there throughout the plains scattered herds of zebra, hartebeests, and gazelles grazed in peace. Not a spoor or a sign of lion was to be seen. For us the day was a blank, and toward evening the thunder cloud rose again out of the north and again melted away into the twilight.
The camp behind the shoulder of the Black Reef was a dry camp. Every drop of water had to be hauled in drums from Sewell's Farm. The ox-wagon went in the morning and returned in the afternoon. In this way we could haul just enough water to last the outfit twenty-four hours. Special rules were inaugurated. Horses and dogs were given the preference always, and one of the escaries was detailed to guard the drums.