THE BIG GAME OF AFRICA 



between its shoulders, and down the Hon went in an in- 

 stant. I sprang forward, shouting for joy, when, to my 

 utter surprise, the Hon got up and, with a never-to-be- 

 forgotten roar, rushed for me, now less than twenty 

 yards off! Then the second bullet sent it to the ground 

 again, never more to move ! An examination of the trophy 

 revealed to our great delight that this lion was even 

 larger than the one killed before, measuring ten feet 

 two inches from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail, 

 and having a much larger and almost black mane. Every- 

 body that saw this skin, including a government official 

 who has examined over two hundred lion skins, seemed 

 to think it one of the largest and most beautiful lions ever 

 killed in British East Africa. . . ." 



When big plains are traversed by rivers, or even dried- 

 out water courses, where always a great many large trees 

 and high grasses grow, one may be reasonably sure of 

 finding lions or leopards, unless they have often been dis- 

 turbed by hunters. In such places it is a good scheme to 

 go in among the trees, up wind, to some point where one 

 can see across the whole belt of bush, then screen one's 

 self as well as possible, and send the men to beat the 

 bush for a mile or so above. The lion will then generally 

 run away from the beaters, down wind, but, fearing to 

 be detected on the open plains, it will, as a rule, keep 

 running between the trees and the bushes along the river 

 or in the dry river bed. Then it is easily shot, as it passes 

 the place where the hunter stands. If the lion, under 

 such circumstances, is only wounded, it will almost in- 

 variably charge, and woe to the hunter who then fails to 

 receive it with steady nerve and ready gun ! 



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