220 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



they were so dense that he was quite invisible to us. We 

 stood within thirty yards making some disturbance, but no 

 noise or sign of Hfe came from the Hon. In order to get a 

 view into the swamp I cHmbed a thorn-tree growing near- 

 by, but without the desired result. From this elevated 

 perch I began to shoot into the reeds at about the spot I 

 thought the lion lay, using for the purpose a small-calibre 

 rifle. Not until the sixth shot did the lion come out, and 

 then only because he had been hit. A more persistent case 

 of attempt at ambush I have never witnessed. He charged 

 out desperately in extreme ferocity, leaving us in no doubt 

 as to what our fate would have been had we entered the 

 reed bed. He was a terrifying sight as he stood there in his 

 desperate rage roaring and straining to reach the fleeing 

 gun-bearers. I placed a 405 bullet in his shoulders which 

 sent him back into the reed bed again. In a few seconds 

 he was out again to receive another bullet which quite 

 took the fight out of him. He staggered back into the 

 reed bed and died. After he had quieted down the gun- 

 bearers cautiously pulled the drag into the bare veldt, where 

 we could examine our late foe at our leisure. This lion was 

 a large-bodied male, considerably older and bigger than any 

 others we had trapped. What astonished us most was to 

 find two traps attached to him. His forepaw was held in 

 one trap by two toes, and his hind foot by one toe in another 

 trap. With these encumbrances he had gone for more than a 

 mile over rather rough veldt. Over this course he had been 

 followed by a lioness, doubtless his mate. Her footprints 

 were boldly marked in the smooth trail left by the trap 

 drags. No evidence of her was found, however, in the reed 

 beds, although the negroes asserted that she would surely 

 remain with her mate and fight. 



