XVII A FINE LION KILLED 



301 



up behind him, as I feared to lose sight of him in 

 the bush. He heard me coming, and whipping 

 round with an angry roar, charged again in fine 

 style, this time, however, chasing me for less than a 

 hundred yards, and coming to a halt as before right 

 in the open. I brought my horse round as quickly 

 as I could, and again dismounting, fired as he stood 

 facing me, and again hit him in the chest, when he 

 at once turned and made for the bush, on reaching 

 which he lay down under a large thorn tree. I 

 now walked my horse towards him, and finding 

 that he was apparently too far gone to get on his 

 legs again, though he raised his great head and 

 growled savagely as I approached, I came quite 

 near to him, and gave him a third shot in the chest 

 which killed him. He proved to be a fine lion just 

 in his prime, in beautiful coat and with a very fair 

 mane. He was, too, extraordinarily fat. The 

 Bushmen took every particle of fat from the slain 

 monarch, but left the rest of the carcase for the 

 hyaenas and vultures, which they would not have 

 done had they been short of meat of other kinds. 



I imagine that this lion was the lord and master 

 of the four lionesses who were with him when my 

 after-rider disturbed them, and that the single lion 

 I had chased and lost w^as a depraved animal who 

 wished to interfere with this domestic arrangement, 

 but had been unable to allure any of the lionesses 

 away from their rightful lord, and had not dared to 

 put the matter to the ordeal of combat. This 

 explanation would, I think, account for the con- 

 tinuous roaring which had gone on during the 

 whole of the previous night. 



