56 AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



when I pressed the trigger, yet the snarling crea- 

 ture did not even hesitate when the bullet struck 

 her. Once more I quickly took aim and pulled 

 the trigger, but still she came gliding, growling 

 on. 



Could it be that I was missing her? It seemed 

 impossible, for she was now not sixty feet away 

 and coming faster and faster. I thought of the 

 ugly wounds that I had helped dress on the man- 

 gled Masai and wondered how much of a maul- 

 ing I was about to receive. 



Only one more cartridge remained. This I 

 fired pointblank into the breast of the lioness 

 when she was within a rifle length, and then I 

 managed to tumble to one side as the tawny 

 streak shot past, just grazing my legs. The 

 glassy stare in her eyes told me she was almost 

 dead. Although the force of her charge carried 

 her ten feet beyond me, she lacked the strength 

 or the instinct to reach out with her paw and 

 seize me as she passed. I snatched the second 

 rifle from the ground and wheeled round just as 

 her hind quarters sank to the ground. But 

 there was no need for another bullet. She threw 

 her head in the air and, with a gasp, rolled over 

 on her side, dead. 



