HUNTING ELEPHANT AND RIDING LION 181 
sketches of excited men who, in the presence of dangerous 
game, let their guns off as rapidly as they can manipulate 
them), the advancing lion comes forward to the final attack 
more slowly than is generally supposed, and if he is missed, 
certainly quickens his pace. He seems scarcely ever to 
charge at once when brought to bay, but needs an instant 
or two to make up his mind as to which of his enemies he 
will select. ‘This instant’s delay is, of course, the time to 
shoot him. To do this I always, when it was possible, sat 
down. No time is lost in sitting; the motion is very much 
more rapid than kneeling, and the rest on both knees 
immensely more steady than the partial, swaying rest of 
one. The only disadvantage of the sitting position is that 
once you have taken it, you must abide by it for you cannot 
get up quickly. This, I hold, is its very greatest advan- 
tage. Io change position, and move around in the face of 
imminent danger is folly. It is straight shooting that is 
wanted then, notactive jumping. There is another argument 
in favour of sitting to receive a charge, that I think is worth 
considering. ‘The sitting man does not attract the same 
amount of attention as the man who stands, jumps about 
orruns. A restive horse or mule near by is far more likely 
to draw a lioness charge when wounded, than a sitting 
hunter. 
Only to-day a poor fellow, terribly mauled by a lioness, 
has been brought into Nairobi. He and another young 
fellow rode her. They rode too close, the old story, and 
like a flash she turned, his horse bucked, and bursting the 
girth, threw him almost into her jaws. The lioness sprang 
on the kicking horse, not on the semi-conscious man. 
She clawed the former, but it kicked free, and she wasactually 
leaving the ground when, dazed and not understanding 
the folly of his act, the unarmed man staggered to his feet, 
when she was on him in an instant. Poor boy! ‘Tall 
and strong, seven days of agony have pulled him down 
