254 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



feet from the muzzle of the rifle. Grandy and 

 Horner, who had a good view of the charge, say 

 that he just dropped in his tracks when I fired, 

 which I could not see for the smoke. One thing, 

 however, I had time to notice, and that was that he 

 did not come at me in bounds, but with a rush along 

 the ground. Perhaps it was his broken shoulder 

 that hindered him from springing, but for all that 

 he came at a very great rate, and with his mouth 

 open. Seeing him on the ground I thought that I 

 must have shattered his skull and killed him, when, 

 as we were advancing towards him, he stood up 

 ag-ain. Dorehill at once fired with a Martini- 

 Henry rifle, and shot him through the thigh. On 

 this he fell down again, and, rolling over on to his side, 

 lay gasping. We now went up to him, but, as he 

 still continued to open his mouth, Horner gave him 

 a shot in the head. I now examined my prize with 

 great satisfaction. He was an average-sized lion, 

 his pegged-out skin measuring lo ft. 3 in. from nose 

 to tip of tail, sleek, and in fine condition, and his 

 teeth long and perfect. Grandy and Horner must 

 both have missed him when they first fired, as we 

 could find no mark of their bullets on the skin ; so 

 that when he charged, the only wound he had was 

 the one I had given him on the previous evening. 

 This bullet had merely smashed his shoulder-blade 

 and lodged under the skin just behind it. The 

 bullet with which I so luckily stopped him when 

 charging, had struck him fair on the head, about 

 half an inch above the right eye ; here it had cracked 

 the skull, but, without penetrating, had glanced 

 along the bone and come out behind the right ear. 

 I believe that this shot must have given him con- 

 cussion of the brain, and caused his death, and that 



