LION HUNTING ON THE KAPITI PLAINS 65 



had been crippled for life by a lioness. He had marked 

 her into some patches of brush, and coming up, tried to put 

 her out of one thick clump. Failing, he thought she might 

 have gone into another thicket, and walked toward it; 

 instantly that his back was turned, the lioness, who had 

 really been in the first clump of brush, raced out after him, 

 threw him down, and bit him again and again before she 

 was driven off. One night we camped at the very spot 

 where, a score of years before, a strange tragedy had hap- 

 pened. It was in the early days of the opening of the coun- 

 try, and an expedition was going toward Uganda; one of 

 the officials in charge was sleeping in a tent with the flap 

 open. There was an askari on duty; yet a lion crept up, 

 entered the tent, and seized and dragged forth the man. 

 He struggled and made outcry; there was a rush of people, 

 and the lion dropped his prey and bounded off. The 

 man's wounds were dressed, and he was put back to bed in 

 his own tent; but an hour or two after the camp again grew 

 still, the lion returned, bent on the victim of whom he had 

 been robbed; he re-entered the tent, seized the unfortu- 

 nate wounded man with his great fangs, and this time 

 made off with him into the surrounding darkness, killed 

 and ate him. Not far from the scene of this tragedy, 

 another had occurred. An English officer named Stewart, 

 while endeavoring to kill his first lion, was himself set on and 

 slain. At yet another place we were shown where two 

 settlers, Messrs. Lucas and Goldfinch, had been one killed 

 and one crippled by a lion they had been hunting. They 

 had been following the chase on horseback, and being men 

 of bold nature, and having killed several lions, had become 

 too daring. They hunted the lion into a small piece of 



