XV A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY 281 



another, the lion perhaps a foot in advance, so 

 that he looked at us from just beyond his com- 

 panion's head. 



Now was my opportunity, and did ever hunter have 

 such a chance before, I wonder ? The eight-bore 

 elephant rifle I carried could certainly have driven 

 a bullet through two lions, and had I hit the lioness 

 in the middle of the shoulder — and at thirty yards 

 I could hardly have helped doing so — the bullet 

 would have passed clean through her, and caught 

 the lion just behind the shoulders, an equally fatal 

 shot, as it would have passed through the big 

 blood-vessels of both lungs. My rifle was already 

 on full cock and the hair trigger set, and, raising 

 it to my shoulder, I took a cool and careful aim 

 and pulled the trigger. Click went the hammer, 

 and just came down to the half-cock. This per- 

 formance I repeated at least half-a-dozen times, 

 but always with the same result. 



All this time the lions stood perfectly still, 

 watching me quietly and in rather a sleepy kind 

 of way. Then the lioness walked forwards again, 

 closely followed by her companion, but after taking 

 a few steps they broke into a trot, which soon 

 changed to a heavy lumbering canter. I ran after 

 them as hard as I could, but soon lost sight of them 

 amongst some small bushy shrubs. 



Running into and through these bushes, I found 

 myself close to the edge of the bluff again which 

 skirted the open grass valley, for the lions had 

 run round in a half-circle. Feeling sure they had 

 descended to the lower ground, I ran on to the 

 edge of the ridge, and at once saw the lion standing 

 just below me at the foot of the bluff", and close 

 to the edge of the long grass. The lioness I could 

 not see. I don't think the lion was ten yards away 

 from me. He had evidently heard me coming, and 

 stood quite still looking at me whilst I tried three 



