A Spear of Summer Grass - By Deanna Raybourn Page 0,76

my head and wiped at my eyes. I held it out, but he shook his head. “Keep it. I like to think of you owning something of mine.”

He dropped my hand then and we walked back to the others who were still filing slowly across the wide African plain.

Late that afternoon we were walking sluggishly, full after a good lunch and feeling the pull of the warm sun towards the occasional shadow of an acacia. Suddenly, Gideon began speaking rapidly in Swahili to Ryder who bent swiftly over the tracks. Ryder turned to me, smiling broadly.

“We’ve got him and another. He’s found a mate.”

There in the soft soil, next to the pug marks of the large male, were the smaller prints of a female, sometimes bounding ahead, sometimes circling flirtatiously behind. Ryder explained that we had to move forward cautiously until we found them.

“You don’t want to sneak up on a mating pair,” he told me. Gideon took out the ash bag and sifted out a handful to toss lightly into the air. The wind was favourable and we moved forward, signalling to the porters and Tusker to stay behind. They began to set up camp as we followed the lions.

We heard them before we saw them. Just past a little rise, the land dipped down to a small lugga. There was scant vegetation, just a few thornbushes and an acacia, but there was some shade and it was here that the lions had decided to copulate. Gideon circled slightly to the left and made a series of swift hand signals while I stayed with Ryder.

“We won’t go any closer and we won’t take him now,” he said, his mouth against my ear.

I shrugged slightly and he put a finger to his lips then gestured for me to watch. The lioness had apparently just decided to succumb. She was crouching low, flicking her tail back and forth under the lion’s jaw, teasing him. With a low roar he flung himself forward, covering her as she dug her claws into the earth. He bit her neck, holding her down in submission as he pushed himself into her. She gave a little mew and turned her head, nuzzling at him. He was monstrous, a solid thing of muscle and bone and sinew and far larger than I had expected him to be. Even at a distance, I could feel the ground shake with the violence of his thrusting.

All at once, it was over. The lioness turned on him, letting out an impatient roar and lashing his nose with her claw. Blood spurted from his nose and he snarled at her as she whipped her tail, giving a low growl in response. They fought, first one lunging, then the other, and occasionally rolling around, raising a cloud of dust to powder them both. Then just as suddenly as they began the fight, it was finished. The male shook his head, the blood running freely from his nose. The female crept near, licking it, nuzzling. He turned his head, aloof to her attentions. She moved past him, graceful as a dancer, tantalizing him with the tuft at the end of her tail, again flicking it gently under his chin. He growled and she turned to walk past again, sinuous, inviting. He lowered his head and she moved past a third time, shifting her hips. At a sound from him she crouched, moving her tail aside as he lunged to cover her again.

Ryder touched my arm. “Best go while they’re occupied,” he murmured. We crept away and he signalled to Gideon to meet us at the encampment.

“If you’re sure that’s the man-eater, why didn’t you take him?” I demanded.

“Oh, I’m sure. He’s missing a toe on his back foot. No mistaking him.”

“Again, why didn’t you take him?”

Ryder’s lips twitched. “I thought instead of a last meal he might like a last—”

“Never mind,” I said.

He laughed. “Relax, princess. He is our man-eater and we’ll get him tomorrow. But he’ll be mating with that female for the next two days. I just thought I’d give him a chance to get cubs on her before I shot him.”

“You think more lions are a good thing? When they eat people’s children and cattle?”

He swung to face me. “I’m not a scientist, and I’m not a historian, but I can tell you those lions were here long before we were. And they won’t be here much longer if everybody starts treating them like vermin. Now, I’ve got no problem taking