62 IN BRIGHTEST AFRICA 
his victim and mutilate him even after he is dead. I 
have never known of lions doing this. On the other 
hand, as soon as their adversary is dead, often as soon 
as he is quiet, they will let him alone. The game 
animals on which the lions are accustomed to feed 
corroborate this characteristic. They know that the 
lion kills for food at night and they likewise know 
that he kills only for food, so in the daytime they do 
not bother about lions particularly. I have seen lions 
trot through a herd of game within easy striking 
distance of many of the animals without causing any 
disturbance. 
So far as I know, except for the comparatively few 
man-eaters, lions are never the aggressors. More 
than that, they prefer to get out of the way of man 
rather than fight him, and they will put up with a 
good deal of disturbance and inconvenience and even 
pain before they will fight. But once decided to 
fight they will fight with an amazing courage even if 
there are plenty of opportunities to escape. 
I had an experience which showed both these 
aspects of a lion’s nature. Frederick M. Stephenson, 
John T. McCutcheon, the cartoonist, Mrs. Akeley, 
and I were hunting lions. J had a moving-picture 
camera and the others were armed with guns. One 
day the natives rounded up a lioness in a patch of 
uncommonly tall, thick grass. The beaters hesitated 
to go in after her, so I took a gun and McCutcheon 
and I joined the porters, leaving Stephenson and 
Mrs. Akeley outside. The grass was so thick that 
we had to take our rifles in both hands and push the 
