28 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



Sicomey's) country. As the brute made one light- 

 ning rush at him, and his nag (a very good one) 

 was going at full speed, Baldwin, looking back over 

 his shoulder and bending low over his horse's neck, 

 saw him coming. He gave a violent pull at the bridle 

 on the near side, a fierce dig with his off-spur, and 

 just saved himself. The lion bounded up, grazed 

 Baldwin's right shoulder, and all but unshipped him, 

 but just missed its mark. Baldwin pulled himself 

 up by his stirrup leather, presently checked his horse, 

 and finally settled his attacker in two shots, after a 

 sufficiently trying experience. 



When hunting with horses in lion country, two 

 good fires ought to be kept going, and the horses 

 tied up to the wheels on the inner side of the 

 waggons. Lions have a particular fancy for horses, 

 as they have for zebras, and with his nags dead or 

 disabled, the hunter finds himself bereft of the most 

 valuable part of his equipment. Yet lions will, like 

 human beings, on occasion miss valuable opportunities 

 and behave in just the contrary way to what one 

 might expect of them. I once rode on in front of 

 the waggons from a water in the Northern Kalahari 

 to the Botletli river, Ngamiland. There were 

 three of us Dove, my shooting companion, and a 

 native " boy " and myself, and we each rode and 

 led a horse. Having accomplished 65 miles of 

 burning and waterless country in a night and day, 

 we were dead tired, and finding no wood or dung 

 for a fire, lay down and slept with our horses tied to 

 a tree close to us. Next morning we found the 



