THE BIG GAME OF AFRICA 



any charge at all, she sprang upon Mr. Smith's friend, 

 trying to tear him down from his saddle. Young Smith 

 then fired at the lion, wounding it in the back. Instantly 

 the lion let go his comrade, and made for Mr. Smith in 

 mighty leaps. From his saddle he fired five times at the 

 oncoming beast, yet without hitting any of its vital spots, 

 and before his comrade had a chance to come to his res- 

 cue, the lioness tore him down from his saddle and horri- 

 bly mauled him. Just as he had given up all hope, and the 

 lioness was burying its terrible fangs in his leg, his badly 

 wounded comrade succeeded in killing it by a well-aimed 

 shot through the head at a few yards' distance. 



As lions often go in pairs and groups of from eight to 

 twelve, or sometimes even more, it may be very dangerous 

 for a single man to attack such a large number of these 

 powerful beasts. But, on the other hand, if the hunter 

 is not far ofif and able to make every shot tell, and first 

 kills the grown females, he will probably be able to master 

 the situation. The well-known German traveler and ex- 

 plorer. Dr. Carl Peters, the founder of German East Af- 

 rica, told me that he once, on one of his trips there, came 

 upon a group of twenty-two lions, most of which were 

 full-grown males and females. Being an absolutely fear- 

 less man and a good shot, he was able to kill five, the others 

 running for cover in the bushes. Another sportsman, an 

 American, killed six lions in less than two hours during 

 the fall of 1909. An Australian hunter and settler told 

 me last December that he went out in the fall of 1909 to 

 shoot a lion which the night before had killed one of his 

 oxen. But being confronted with eleven of these big fe- 

 lines, he quickly retreated without molesting the lions, 



44 



