DEATH OF THE LION 141 



whom I am greatly indebted for much trouble 

 taken on my behalf, and who possesses the ad- 

 mirable qualities which characterise the Mufassal 

 Englishwomen in India. 



On the 2oth we got khabar of a lion a well- 

 known, unusually big, old and grey lion and 

 started very early after him on foot. I think 

 we were some ten hours following him. He at 

 last lay up in a clump of bushes in a very small 

 wood, almost the only wood I saw in Gir Forest. 

 Gir Forest, like a Scotch forest, is treeless and 

 equally bears its name on the lucus a non lucendo 

 principle. 



I was posted on rising ground behind a bulky 

 tree-stump and the head shikari, a splendid speci- 

 men of the class, stood beside me. The " move " 

 succeeded, but the lion did not wait for the second 

 yell. Immediately he heard the first he bounded 

 out and came past me at a hand-canter. He was 

 inclining towards Robertson's post, when that 

 kind, unselfish young man fired two shots over 

 him, pushing him towards me. I hit the lion 

 rather too high and too much behind to kill him 

 straight away. He went a short distance and 

 then lay up on a bare spot exactly in the attitude 

 of the Nelson Monument lions, and we, the head 

 shikari and myself, had to walk up to and finish 

 him. 



I fully expected him to charge us and confess 

 to feeling at the moment in a " blue funk," but 

 my shot had injured the spine and he could not 

 rise, much less charge. 



He was a grand beast, and when I looked at him 

 lying dead, I confess that I would have given all 



