80 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



and the gun-bearers close behind. It is ticklish work to 

 follow a wounded lion in tall grass, and we walked carefully, 

 every sense on the alert. We passed Heller, who had been 

 with the beaters. He spoke to us with an amused smile. 

 His only weapon was a pair of field-glasses, but he always 

 took things as they came, with entire coolness, and to be 

 close to a wounded lioness when she charged merely inter- 

 ested him. A beater came running up and pointed toward 

 where he had seen her, and we walked toward the place. 

 At thirty yards distance Hill pointed, and, eagerly peering, 

 I made out the form of the lioness showing indistinctly 

 through the grass. She was half crouching, half sitting, her 

 head bent down; but she still had strength to do mischief. 

 She saw us, but before she could turn I sent a bullet through 

 her shoulders; down she went, and was dead when we 

 walked up. A cub had been seen, arid another full-grown 

 lion, but they had slunk off and we got neither. 



This was a full-grown, but young, lioness of average 

 size; her cubs must have been several months old. We 

 took her entire to camp to weigh; she weighed two hundred 

 and eighty-three pounds. The first lion, which we had 

 difficulty in finding, as there were no identifying marks in 

 the plain of tall grass, was a good-sized male, weighing 

 about four hundred pounds, but not yet full-grown; al- 

 though he was probably the father of the cubs. 



We were a long way from camp, and, after beating in 

 vain for the other lion, we started back; it was after night- 

 fall before we saw the camp-fires. It was two hours later 

 before the porters appeared, bearing on poles the skin of 

 the dead lion, and the lioness entire. The moon was nearly 

 full, and it was interesting to see them come swinging 



