262 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



when a very nasty gurgling sort of growl arrested my 

 footsteps, I could see nothing, but knew that a third 

 lion was in my close vicinity, so, cocking my rifle, I 

 held it with the muzzle advanced, and my finger on 

 the trigger, ready for accidents. After standing thus 

 tor a few seconds, straining every sense to try and 

 discover the whereabouts of the lion, I sat down, and 

 then edged gradually away to a little leafless bush a 

 few yards to my right. There was now a sort of 

 greyish light which rendered objects much more distin- 

 guishable than they had been an hour previously, yet 

 though I commanded a clear and unobstructed view 

 of the dead horse, the outline of which was becoming 

 plainer every instant, I could see no sign of the lion, 

 though I knew he was not twenty yards away. It 

 was now getting so light that I raised my rifle, and 

 looking along the sights found that I could see pretty 

 well, though the ivory foresight glimmered rather 

 large in the nick. Another five minutes passed, and 

 to me who had been watching since it was quite dark 

 it seemed nearly light, I looked towards Miller and 

 Bell, and saw them quite distinctly lying flat on their 

 faces between the two spans of oxen, and then glanc- 

 ing again towards the dead horse, my eyes suddenly 

 became fixed upon the greenish-yellow eyes of the lion, 

 which was lying between me and the horse, its tawny 

 body pressed flat upon the yellow sand, and its great 

 head couched upon its outstretched paws. For the 

 last hour I must have been constantly overlooking it, 

 for, as we afterwards found by actual measurement, 

 there was only a space of twelve paces between us. 

 The beast's eyes were concentrated upon me with a 

 most unpleasant intensity, and I saw that his tail, with 

 a fine black bunch at the end of it, was twitching 

 from side to side with little nervous jerks. Well, 1 



