494 DEFENCE AGAINST ANIMALS OF 



Lieutenant Delamain, on going eight or ten paces down a sheep- 

 track, got a sight of the lion, and instantly discharged his rifle at 

 him. 



"Impetus est fulvis, et vasta leonibus ira! " 



This irritated the mighty lord of the woods, and he rushed towards 

 him, breaking through the bushes (to use the captain's own words) 

 "in most magnificent style." Captain Woodhouse now found him- 

 self placed in an awkward situation. He was aware that if he re- 

 traced his steps, in order to put himself in a better position for attack, he 

 would just get to the point from which the lieutenant had fired, and to 

 which the lion was making ; wherefore he instantly resolved to stand 

 still, in the hopes that the lion would pass by, at a distance of four 

 yards or so, without perceiving him, as the intervening cover was 

 thick and strong. In this, however, he was most unfortunately de- 

 ceived ; for the enraged lion saw him in passing, and flew at him 

 with a dreadful roar. In an instant, as though it had been done by 

 a stroke of lightning, the rifle was broken and thrown out of the 

 captain's hand, his left arm at the same moment being seized by the 

 claws, and his right by the teeth, of his desperate antagonist. While 

 these two brave and sturdy combatants, " whose courage none could 

 stain," were yet standing in mortal conflict, Lieutenant Delamain 

 ran up, and discharged his piece full at the lion. This caused the 

 lion and the captain to come to the ground together, while Lieutenant 

 Delamain hastened out of the jungle to re-load his gUn. The lion 

 now began to crunch the captain's arm ; but as the brave fellow, 

 notwithstanding the pain which this horrid process caused, had the 

 cool, determined resolution to lie still, the lordly savage let the arm 

 drop out of its mouth, and quietly placed himself in a crouching 

 position, with both his paws upon the thigh of his fallen foe. While 

 things were in this untoward situation, the captain, unthinkingly, 

 raised his hand to support his head, which had got placed ill at ease 

 in the fall. No sooner, however, had he moved it, than the lion 

 seized the lacerated arm a second time, crunched it as before, and 

 fractured the bone still higher up. This additional memento mori 

 from the lion was not lost upon Captain Woodhouse ; it immediately 

 put him in mind that he had committed an act of imprudence in stir- 



