XII FOLLOWING A WOUNDED LION 253 



keep the spoor and drive him past us. We had not 

 quite reached our post, however, when of a sudden 

 he commenced to roar. At the same instant 

 Grandy called out, " There he is — I see him," and 

 fired, and then said, " That's hit him ; that's knocked 

 him over." I at once ran down to him, and saw the 

 lion lying crouched down, with his head under a 

 horizontal willow branch. All this time he had kept 

 up, without cessation, one continuous roaring. I had 

 just raised my rifle to fire, when Horner, who was 

 a little to my left, anticipated me. The lion at once 

 ceased roaring, and disappeared over the bank 

 amongst the overhanging willows. As the river 

 was full, and running strong at the time, I did not 

 think he would like to take the water, and ran along 

 the bank to intercept him as he came up again. He 

 soon did so, and, seeing me, I suppose, commenced 

 to roar again. He was now, however, invisible in a 

 patch of bush, but, as he never stopped roaring, I 

 could tell his whereabouts pretty well. As he had 

 shown himself so pusillanimous both on the previous 

 evening and during the whole morning, knowing, 

 too, that I had hurt him severely, and believing that 

 Grandy had hit him too, I hardly expected he would 

 charge, or I might have been more careful. As it 

 was, however, I was peering about into the bush 

 to try and catch sight of him, holding my rifle 

 advanced in front of me, and on full cock, when I 

 became aware that he was coming at me through the 

 bush. The next instant out he burst. I was so 

 close that I had not even time to take a sight, but, 

 stepping a pace backwards, got the rifle to my 

 shoulder, and, when his head was close upon the 

 muzzle, pulled the trigger, and jumped to one side. 

 The lion fell almost at my very feet, certainly not six 



