252 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



seen him ; and not fifty yards farther on the be- 

 haviour of the dogs showed unmistakably that he 

 was still close at hand. A regard for truth forbids 

 me to pronounce a very glowing eulogium upon the 

 courage displayed on this occasion by our mongrel 

 pack. At the mere scent of the lion all but two 

 rushed precipitately past us, not forwards, but back- 

 wards, with their tails between their legs, some of 

 them yelping with fright ; nor did they put in an 

 appearance again until the hunt was over. Two 

 veterans, however, an old dog half paralysed in the 

 hind-quarters, and a one-eyed bitch, stood their 

 ground, and, with the hair on end all along their 

 backs, growled savagely. Even these two would not 

 go far in front of us. Whilst poking about looking 

 for the spoor we came to the place where the 

 wounded beast had lain all night, and from which he 

 must just have crawled away as we came up. He 

 seemed to have lost a good deal of blood, and had 

 champed and chewed every bit of stick within his reach. 

 There was now no more difficulty about taking 

 the spoor, as the footprint showed very plainly in 

 the soft ground, wet and muddy with the night's 

 rain ; but the bush being pretty thick and in leaf, 

 we only advanced very cautiously, step by step, 

 expecting every instant to see the lion. After pro- 

 ceeding for some distance in this manner, it became 

 evident to me that as we advanced so he constantly 

 receded, creeping from bush to bush, so that we 

 never could get a view of him, and I began to fear 

 that this sort of thing might go on for an indefinite 

 period. I therefore proposed to Horner that he and 

 I should take up a position on some higher ground 

 along the river, a httle on ahead of where I judged 

 the lion to be, leaving our friends and the Kafirs to 



