214 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



party. I took several shots at the leaders but these had 

 no effect; in fact, they paid not the slightest heed to them 

 but trotted past in an unbroken, unswerving line. The last 

 of the line, however, was a lioness which displayed a threat- 

 ening attitude toward me. When she got within two hun- 

 dred yards she left the troop and charged me. She came 

 in a crouching trot, growling and lashing the air with her 

 tail. I could not understand her hostility, for only the lead- 

 ers had been fired upon. I clutched the 405 Winchester and 

 waited for her to come within range of my excited marks- 

 manship. During this wait the gun-bearers tugged at my 

 coat, whispering to me to shoot before the dangerous animal 

 got any closer. At seventy yards I shot and hit her low 

 in the chest, the shock stopping her for a second. She was 

 up in an instant, but a second shot in the chest sent her 

 down again. She came on again at once, growling savagely. 

 A third shot through her leg stopped her again. Finally 

 another shot brought her down and she lay with her head 

 raised, growling defiance. At this juncture one of the gun- 

 bearers excitedly called my attention to two half-grown lions 

 which were approaching us from the rear. These were the 

 offspring of the lioness, which had charged me because my 

 position had accidentally placed me between her and her 

 cubs. Rainey's two stag-hounds had attacked these young- 

 sters which were several times the weight of the dogs, 

 and had annoyed them so that they had lost the troop. 

 They strayed in my direction, the dogs following and snap- 

 ping at them whenever opportunity offered. After ridding 

 myself of these two enemies by a couple of shots, I again 

 turned my attention to the lioness and finally killed her 

 with one of my last cartridges. Before this occurred, how- 



