Precious and the Mystery of the Missing Lion: A New Case for Precious Ramotswe (7 page)

“We must be very quiet now,” said Tom, putting a finger to his lips. “Lions have very good hearing and we don’t want them to take fright and run away.”

Once everybody was on dry land and the boat had been firmly tied to a tree trunk at the edge of the water, the whole party began to walk very slowly and carefully through the thick grass and
scrub bush. Tom led the way, and then came one of his men, and behind them were Precious and Khumo. The other men who had come with them brought up the rear, looking anxiously around them from time
to time.

“You have to be very careful when looking for lions,” Tom whispered. “Sometimes when you are looking for a lion, the lion creeps round behind you and then, before you know
what’s happened, you’re being stalked by the lion rather than the other way round.”

Precious gave a shiver when she heard this. She did not like the thought of a lion creeping up behind her.

“Don’t worry,” said Khumo. “Tom will be very careful.”

“I hope so,” said Precious.

They walked for about an hour. “No sign of anything yet,” said Tom. “Have you seen any tracks?”

Precious shook her head. “Only old ones,” she said. ‘I think lions must have been here once, but I think it was quite a few days ago – maybe even weeks.”

She had just finished saying this when she noticed something. It was not something that most people would notice, but you have to remember that she was a detective-in-training and so she saw
things that other people walked right past.

“Wait,” she said, her voice low. “Look at this.”

The whole line of people came to a stop.

“What have you found?” asked Tom.

Precious pointed to a bush at the side of the rough track they were following. One of the branches had been bent back so that it had snapped. There was still fresh sap where the break had
happened.

“Something passed by this way not all that long ago,” she said. “Some big animal.”

“But it could have been anything,” said Tom. “A zebra. A buffalo. Anything.”

Precious was now down on her hands and knees, examining the ground. “No,” she said. “It was a lion. Several lions, in fact. Look at these.”

Tom and Khumo, along with the other men who were with them, now bent down to look at the ground where Precious was pointing.

Khumo, whose father was a game scout who had taught him how to track wild animals, saw what his friend meant. “Precious is right,” he said. “Lions went this way – and
only a few minutes ago.”

At the news that the lions had been there only a few minutes earlier, Tom and his men looked a bit anxious.

“I hope they’re not too close,” said one of the men, giving a little shiver as he spoke.

“We’ll soon find out,” said Precious. “Let’s follow their tracks – keeping a careful look-out, of course.”

“A
very
careful look-out,” said Tom.

HEY WENT FORWARD SLOWLY
, looking down at the ground very carefully before they put down
their feet. This was so that they should not step on a twig that might snap and give them away to any creature that was listening. And lions do listen for anything that is coming their way –
they are also very watchful animals, even if they are big and fierce and have large teeth that are very good at biting ... Precious did not like to think of that, and neither, I imagine, do
you.

It was Precious who spotted them first. At first she thought it was just one of those tricks that your eyes can play. She thought it might just be a branch swaying in the breeze, or the shadow
of a tiny cloud moving across the ground. But then she realised that it was neither of these, and that what she was looking at was a lion.

Once she knew that, then in an instant she saw all the rest. She saw that what looked like a pile of brown leaves on the ground was actually a young lion lying with his head on his front paws.
And then what looked like a bendy branch in front of a bush was in fact a large lioness that was standing quite still looking up at the sky. Altogether she saw six lions, and they were not far
away, really probably not much further than you or I could throw a small stone.

She reached out to tap Khumo on the shoulder. He turned round, looked where she was pointing, and then he let out a very low whistle to alert Tom.

“Over there,” whispered Khumo. “Look!”

Precious and Khumo both knew that they were safe as long as they made no sudden movements or sounds. This was because the wind was blowing from the direction of the lions. Had it been blowing
the other way, then the lions would have smelled them very easily. Lions have a good sense of smell, and can tell when people or other animals are nearby just by lifting their great lion noses into
the air and sniffing at the breeze.

Tom studied the lions and the way they were lying around resting. After a few moments, he whispered to Precious and Khumo, telling them what his plan was.

“Teddy is right on the edge of the pride,” he said. “See him over there?”

They looked. Sure enough, Teddy was some distance away from the others, under the shade provided by a tree. He seemed to be having his afternoon nap.

“I’m going to creep up towards him,” Tom went on. “There’s quite a bit of cover, and that means that they won’t see me. Once I reach him, he’ll remember
me, of course, and will come back here with me. He always obeys me, especially if I offer him one of his lion treats.”

He showed them a large biscuit – rather like a dog biscuit – that he was holding in his right hand.

“Isn’t that a bit dangerous?” asked Precious. “What if the other lions see you? What then?”

“They won’t see me,” said Tom. “I will be very careful.”

Precious glanced at Khumo, who shrugged. It seemed as if he thought that if this was what Tom wanted to do, then he could not do anything to stop him. After all, Tom was an adult, and it is
often rather difficult for children to stop adults from doing things once they have made up their minds to do it.

Dropping to his hands and knees, Tom began to crawl through the undergrowth. He moved very slowly, and he was well-covered by the grass and bushes, so Precious stopped worrying quite so much
that he would be seen. Perhaps Tom really knew what he was doing after all, she thought.

But then something dreadful happened. It was so dreadful that Precious almost gave a shriek when she discovered it. Fortunately she did not, because that would have made matters a whole lot
worse.

What happened was that she suddenly saw that at the other edge of the clearing another lion had woken up and was showing his face. That face was Teddy’s – she was absolutely sure of
it. The lion that Tommy was now approaching looked like Teddy, but that was all. He was definitely not the tame actor lion, but was a wild lion that would not be very interested in being offered a
lion treat by a man on his hands and knees. For such a lion, it would not be the biscuit, but the man himself who would seem like a tasty lion afternoon snack.

Precious had to act quickly. She could not call out to Tom, as that would disturb all the other lions, making them immediately come bounding towards them. So she would have to do something quite
different – which is what she now did.