24 AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



and ride away. When the lion gives up the 

 chase the sportsman can go back and continue 

 the fight. 



Experienced English hunters prefer attacking 

 lions from a distance. Of course if the ground 

 is such that by standing off two hundred yards 

 or more there is danger of the animal escaping, 

 they try to get closer. But they reason that the 

 farther away the animal is the less apt it will 

 be to charge and if it does charge there will be 

 more time to shoot. 



While it is true that the nearer one is to a 

 lion the more liable it is to charge, close shooting 

 has its advantages in that one's aim is more 

 accurate and the bullets have greater penetra- 

 tion. 



A young Englishman with whom we became 

 acquainted shortly after our arrival in Africa 

 was, a few months later, frightfully mauled by a 

 lion. He went hunting one afternoon and sud- 

 denly came upon a fine maned lion. At about 

 one hundred yards he opened fire, and the beast 

 charged. The hunter emptied his first rifle and 

 snatched his second gun from the gun bearer 

 just before the lion reached him. This rifle 

 chanced to be of a different make from any the 



