134 THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 



ward; that his eyes looked round rather than elliptical. 

 Later Memba Sasa told me: 



"I said, ^Will the hwana never shoot!'" 



Nevertheless, before the lion had even tensed his 

 muscles for the next effort that would land him on me, 

 the first bullet took him. It was an exceedingly in- 

 teresting example of how rapidly and comprehensively 

 the human mind works under excitement. 



The .405 Winchester delivers a blow of about 3,300 

 foot-pounds; and this animal was so near that the ve- 

 locity was in no way diminished by air resistance. The 

 largest buffalo I ever saw was knocked right off his 

 feet by a shoulder shot from it.* This lion did not 

 lose his balance, but the force of the blow thrust him 

 sidewise as a paper box is blown by a violent gust of 

 wind. That he was not knocked flat seems to me 

 remarkable. Perhaps the highly organized nervous 

 system of the cat responded instantaneously so that 

 the muscles reacted unconsciously and at once. I 

 yanked the lever of my rifle down and back and put in 

 another. The bullet entered just two inches from the 

 first. I was shooting for the heart; the head shot on a 

 lion is always uncertain. 



This second shot again thrust him back so far that he 

 toppled over the edge of the bank and down into the 

 ravine. 



I ran to the edge. He had recovered himself and 



*He didn't stay down! 



