CHAPTER X 



August 25. — Every book on African hunting, and 

 every African hunter worthy of the name, will tell you 

 that a lion will never in daylight attack a man unpro- 

 voked. There is no blither warrior than the lion when 

 he is given due cause to fight. You can stop or turn 

 a charging elephant, a charging buffalo, or a charging 

 rhinoceros by pounding him hard enough; but not a 

 charging lion. If he once starts for you, you must kill 

 him. Furthermore, a comparatively slight annoyance 

 will sometimes cause him to charge; you don't need to 

 wound him. But unprovoked and out of hunting 

 hours he is supposed to be a peaceful citizen. To-day 

 I had one experience that apparently was an exception. 

 I struck out to the southeast, merely because, from the 

 top of the kopje, beside the big distant rocks, we had 

 seen some smaller outcrops striking up above the bush 

 only four or five miles away. They looked nearer — 

 from the top of the kopje. When we came to walk 

 the distance, we found it considerably more than we 

 had anticipated. Down the long gentle slope of the 

 hills, across the valley, up the long gentle slope on the 

 other side, and so repeat. In each valley and on every 



incline we found game. In one little burned patch a 



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