rx THE LION 183 



bination. Suddenly the buffalo fell dead ; this was the result of 

 the original wound, as the rifle bullet had passed through the 

 lungs. 



The lions were not aware of this, and a quarrel among them- 

 selves commenced after their imagined victory. One huge beast 

 reared to half its full height and placed its fore paws upon the 

 body of the prostrate buffalo, while at the head and the hind- 

 quarters an angry lion clutched the dead body in its spreading 

 paws, and growled at the possessor of the centre. This formed a 

 grand picture within only a few yards' distance, but a couple of 

 shots from either rifle stretched two lions rolling upon the ground, 

 and the third, terrified at the unexpected reports, bounded into the 

 thick covert and disappeared. 



A very good sportsman named Johann Schmidt, a Bavarian 

 who died in my service when in Africa, killed two lions in the 

 act of attacking a giraffe. I saw the skeletons of these animals in 

 the bed of the river Royan a few days after the incident. At that 

 dry season of the year the Royan was devoid of water, except at 

 certain bends where the current had scooped out a deep hole 

 beneath the bank. Johann Schmidt was a poor man, who could 

 not afford the luxury of first-rate rifles ; he therefore did his best 

 with most inferior arms, one of which was a light double-barrelled 

 smooth-bore muzzle-loader No. 16. This was a French gun, for 

 which he had given 50 francs at Cairo. By some chance, this 

 common little weapon shot remarkably well with ball and 3 drams 

 of powder. It became his favourite companion. He was strolling 

 one day along the bank of the Royan in Abyssinia, looking care- 

 fully down its sandy bed, when he came near to a water-hole in 

 the long intervals, and he suddenly heard the peculiar sounds of a 

 great encounter. The dust was flying high in the air, and as he 

 approached the spot, within the yellow surface of the river's bed, 

 he saw a cloud of sand, in the centre of which was the large body 

 and long neck of a bull giraffe struggling against the attack of two 

 lions. One of these was fastened upon its throat, while the other 

 was mounted upon its hind-quarters, where it was holding on with 

 teeth and claws. Johann concealed himself behind a large tree 

 which grew upon the bank : this abrupt margin was about 20 feet 

 above the river's bed, and not 50 yards from the scene of a hope- 

 less conflict. 



The giraffe had no chance ; and after a sharp struggle before 

 the eyes of the well-concealed spectator, it was pulled down, and 

 both lions commenced to growl over their contested prey. The 

 position upon a perpendicular bank being thoroughly secure, 



