284 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



legs and tail in the air. The other two now turned 

 their villainous greeny-yellow eyes upon me, and I 

 was afraid the one with the cubs was coming at me, 

 which would have been awkward, as my rifle was 

 only a single-barrelled one, and I should scarcely 

 have had time to reload. For a few seconds they 

 gazed towards me with lowered heads, then with a 

 loud purr and a sweep of their tails sprang away and 

 trotted off through the grass. By this time I was 

 again in the saddle with my rifle reloaded. I could 

 see the lioness I had just wounded still struggling in 

 the grass, and so rode towards her with every sense 

 on the alert. When I was about twenty yards from 

 her she righted herself, and, lying on her outstretched 

 paws, raised her head and looked fixedly at me, on 

 which I put a bullet into the centre of the white 

 patch in her throat, firing from the saddle. Her 

 head dropped at the shot, and I knew she was done 

 for. All this, which has taken some time to relate, 

 did not occupy many seconds. I now galloped 

 through the open bush in the direction taken by the 

 two remaining lionesses, and almost instantly saw one 

 close in front of me. At the same moment she saw 

 me, and facing round stepped a few paces towards 

 me, holding her head low, and twitching her tail 

 savagely from side to side. I felt positive she was 

 on the very point of charging, and so fired at her 

 from the saddle without losing an instant. I this 

 time made a very pretty shot — more by good luck, 

 doubtless, than anything else — striking her in the 

 very centre of the nose, half-way between the eyes 

 and the muzzle. From the position in which she 

 was holding her head, this shot smashed right into 

 the brain, and she fell all of a heap in her tracks. 

 Had I struck her between the eyes, the bullet would 



