THE LION 191 



tail erect. One of the lionesses that charged us came on 

 with occasional great bounds; but all the other lions gal- 

 loped like huge dogs. The pace is very rapid for one or 

 two hundred yards. A horse which is standing but a hun- 

 dred yards distant may be caught before it has time to get 

 into a full gallop. Usually the lion, when it does charge, 

 charges with the utmost determination; and, as we have 

 said, it is more apt to charge when brought to bay on horse- 

 back than in other kinds of hunting; but it is also compara- 

 tively easy to kill under these conditions, for it advances 

 from some distance in open country upon a man fully pre- 

 pared and expectant. Moreover, it is much more easily 

 killed or crippled than is the case with the bigger kinds 

 of dangerous game. A fair shot who is cool-headed and 

 has a good rifle ought under these conditions to be reason- 

 ably certain of stopping the lion before it can get to close 

 quarters. Occasionally, if a man stands stock-still, even with 

 an empty gun, a lion after running straight at him will at 

 the last moment swerve ; this is not ordinarily true, however ; 

 but if of two men together one runs when the lion is close, 

 it will usually seize the runner. When it comes to close 

 quarters it may rear and strike with its fore-paws, but far 

 more often runs in on all fours, like a dog, knocks the man 

 down as it seizes him, and then lies on him, using the claws 

 to hold him, and doing the killing with its great fangs. If it 

 seizes him by the throat or head he is killed instantly; but 

 in the hurly-burly of the mellay the beast seems to lose 

 somewhat of its "instinct for the jugular" and bites re- 

 peatedly at any part that is nearest — arm, leg, side, or chest. 

 In consequence, if help is at hand, the lion can usually be 

 killed or driven off before it has killed the man; although the 



