184 THE LAND OF THE LION 
If there is no such place, of course he must stand up and 
shoot. All delay is dangerous. Get him before he rushes 
in on any man or horse. Any cool shot can knock a lion 
out, with one shot, at one hundred yards or less. No 
living man can be sure of doing this to a rushing, charging, 
snarling embodiment of death. He must remember that 
he has to depend on himself and himself alone. The man 
or men who are mounted can do little or nothing to help 
him. A plunging horse is a poor shooting platform. 
Third, all, riding a lion, should ride not behind him but 
to one side. You may not be too near as you gallop along, 
but he can check his paces so much more suddenly than you 
can, that if you, from the position you have got yourself 
into, are obliged not to swerve your horse, but to turn him 
round in order to gallop away, you are in extreme danger 
of coming to grief. 
Fourth, remember there are plenty more lions in the 
country, even if you lose the one you are after, and take 
no needless risks. You may hunt lions on foot for months 
and have no luck. Well mounted, and in a good country, 
you are certain to get them. So do not ride too close. 
Pull up at a hundred yards — that distance gives you plenty 
of time to take five or six steady shots, let the lion come any 
way he choose; but make up your mind beforehand that 
steady shots shall be aimed at certain spots in him, and not 
ploughing up the ground round him, only angering him, 
and demoralizing yourself. 
Summing up the whole matter, no man can tell what a 
lion will do, how he will come, or whether he will come 
at all or no. He may die as tamely as a house cat, or he 
may make you shoot for your life. And just here is the 
unequalled fascination a man experiences in pitting him- 
self against the lion in East Africa. 
Let no fool persuade you to think of shooting from 
horseback. 
SES or eee ere ee 
7 
