LION HUNTING ON THE KAPITI PLAINS 79 



the yellow-brown grass was a lion; and then I found such 

 difficulty in getting a bead on him that I overshot. How- 

 ever, the bullet must have passed very close indeed, 

 I think it just grazed him for he jumped up and faced us, 

 growling savagely. Then, his head lowered, he threw his 

 tail straight into the air and began to charge. The first 

 few steps he took at a trot, and before he could start into a 

 gallop I put the soft-nosed Winchester bullet in between the 

 neck and shoulder. Down he went with a roar; the wound 

 was fatal, but I was taking no chances, and I put two more 

 bullets in him. Then we walked toward where Hill had 

 already seen another lion the lioness, as it proved. Again 

 he had some difficulty in making me see her; but he suc- 

 ceeded and I walked toward her through the long grass, 

 repressing the zeal of my two gun-bearers, who were stanch, 

 but who showed a tendency to walk a little ahead of me 

 on each side, instead of a little behind. I walked toward 

 her because I could not kneel to shoot in grass so tall; and 

 when shooting off-hand I like to be fairly close, so as to be 

 sure that my bullets go in the right place. At sixty yards I 

 could make her out clearly, snarling at me as she faced me; 

 and I shot her full in the chest. She at once performed a 

 series of extraordinary antics, tumbling about on her head, 

 just as if she were throwing somersaults, first to one side 

 and then to the other. I fired again, but managed to shoot 

 between the somersaults, so to speak, and missed her. 

 The shot seemed to bring her to herself, and away she tore; 

 but instead of charging us she charged the line of beaters. 

 She was dying fast, however, and in her weakness failed 

 to catch any one; and she sank down into the long grass. 

 Hill and I advanced to look her up, our rifles at full cock, 



