66 LION-HUNTING [ch. iii 



friend followed it with lanterns and drove off the lion, 

 but the horse was dead. The tracks and the marks on 

 the horse showed what had happened. The lion had 

 sprung clean on the horse's back, his fore-claws dug into 

 the horse's shoulders, his hind- claws cutting into its 

 haunches, while the great fangs bit at the neck. The 

 horse struggled off at a heavy run, carrying its fearsome 

 burden. After going some sixty yards the lion's teeth 

 went through the spinal cord, and the ride was over. 

 Neither animal had made a sound, and the lion's feet 

 did not touch the earth until the horse fell. 



While a magistrate in the Transvaal, Pease had 

 under him as game officer a white hunter, a fine fellow, 

 who underwent an extraordinary experience. He had 

 been off some distance with his Kaffir boys to hunt a 

 lion. On his way home the hunter was hunted. It 

 was after nightfall. He had reached a region where 

 lions had not been seen for a long time, and where an 

 attack by them was unknown. He was riding along a 

 trail in the darkness, his big boar-hound trotting ahead, 

 his native " boys " some distance behind. He heard a 

 rustle in the bushes alongside the path, but paid no 

 heed, thinking it was a reedbuck. Immediately after- 

 ward two lions came out in the path behind and raced 

 after him. One sprang on him, tore him out of the 

 saddle, and trotted off, holding him in its mouth, while 

 the other continued after the frightened horse. The 

 lion had him by the right shoulder, and yet with his 

 left hand he wrenched liis knife out of his belt and 

 twice stabbed it. The second stab went to the heart, 

 and the beast let go of him, stood a moment, and fell 

 dead. Meanwhile the dog had followed the other lion, 

 which now, having abandoned the chase of the horse, 

 and with the dog still at his heels, came trotting back 



