76 LION-HUNTING [ch. iii 



was with me ; JNledlicott and Kermit were together. 

 We placed ourselves, one couple on each side of a 

 narrow neck, two-thirds of the way along the crest of 

 the hill ; and soon after we were in position we heard 

 the distant shouts of the beaters as they came toward 

 us, covering the crest and the tops of the slopes on both 

 sides. It was rather disconcerting to find how much 

 better Hill's eyes were than mine. He saw everything 

 first, and it usually took some time before he could 

 make me see it. In this first drive nothing came my 

 way except some mountain reedbuck does, at which 

 I did not shoot. But a fine male cheetah came to 

 Kermit, and he bowled it over in good style as it ran. 



Then the beaters halted, and waited before resuming 

 their march until the guns had gone clear round and 

 established themselves at the base of the farther end of 

 the hill. This time Kermit, who was a couple of hundred 

 yards from me, killed a reedbuck and a steinbuck. 

 Suddenly Hill said " Lion !" and endeavoured to point it 

 out to me as it crept cautiously among the rocks on the 

 steep hillside a hundred and fifty yards away. At first 

 I could not see it ; finally I thought I did, and fired, 

 but, as it proved, at a place just above him. However, 

 it made him start up, and I immediately put the next 

 bullet behind his shoulders. It was a fatal shot, but, 

 growling, he struggled 4own the hill, and I fired again 

 and killed him. It was not much of a trophy, however, 

 turning out to be a half-grown male. 



We lunched under a tree, and then arranged for 

 another beat. There was a long, wide valley, or rather 

 a slight depression in the ground — for it was only three 

 or four feet below the general level — in which the grass 

 grew tall, as the soil was quite wet. It was the scene 

 of Percival's adventure with the lion that chased him. 



