LION HUNTING ON THE KAPITI PLAINS 67 



on a lion hunt, had been set afoot by one of the animals he 

 was after, which had killed his horse. It was at night and 

 the horse was tethered within six yards of his sleeping 

 master. The latter was aroused by the horse galloping off, 

 and he heard it staggering on for some sixty yards before 

 it fell. He and his friend followed it with lanterns and 

 drove off the lion, but the horse was dead. The tracks and 

 the marks on the horse showed what had happened. The 

 lion had sprung clean on the horse's back, his fore claws 

 dug into the horse's shoulders, his hind claws cutting into 

 its haunches, while the great fangs bit at the neck. The 

 horse struggled off at a heavy run, carrying its fearsome 

 burden. After going some sixty yards the lion's teeth 

 went through the spinal cord, and the ride was over. 

 Neither animal had made a sound, and the lion's feet did 

 not touch the earth until the horse fell. 



While a magistrate in the Transvaal, Pease had under 

 him as game officer a white hunter, a fine fellow, who under- 

 went an extraordinary experience. He had been off some 

 distance with his Kaffir boys, to hunt a lion. On his way 

 home the hunter was hunted. It was after nightfall. He 

 had reached a region where lions had not been seen for a 

 long time, and where an attack by them was unknown. 

 He was riding along a trail in the darkness, his big boar- 

 hound trotting ahead, his native "boys" some distance 

 behind. He heard a rustle in the bushes alongside the 

 path, but paid no heed, thinking it was a reedbuck. Im- 

 mediately afterward two lions came out in the path behind 

 and raced after him. One sprang on him, tore him out 

 of the saddle, and trotted off holding him in its mouth, while 

 the other continued after the frightened horse. The lion 



