276 Iktnss of tbe 1Rofc, IRifle, anb (Bun 



cracked loudly on her tawny hide, and crippled her 

 in the shoulder, upon which she charged us with an 

 appalling roar, and in the twinkling of an eye she 

 was in the midst of us. At this moment Stofulus's 

 rifle exploded in his hand, and Kleinboy, whom I had 

 ordered to stand by me, danced about like a duck in 

 a gale of wind. The lioness sprang upon Colesberg, 

 and fearfully lacerated his ribs and haunches with her 

 claws ; the worst wound was on his haunch, which 

 exhibited a yawning gash more than twelve inches 

 long, almost laying bare the very bone. I was very 

 cool and steady, and did not feel the least nervous, 

 having, fortunately, great confidence in my own shoot- 

 ing ; but I must confess, when the whole affair was 

 over, I felt it was a very awful situation and attended 

 with extreme peril, as I had no friend with me on 

 whom I could rely. 



When the lioness sprang on Colesberg, I stood out 

 from the horses, ready with my second barrel for the 

 first chance she should give me of a clear shot. This 

 she quickly did ; for, seemingly satisfied with the re- 

 venge she had now taken, she quitted Colesberg, and 

 slewing her tail to one side, trotted sulkily past, within 

 a few paces of me. Taking one step to the left, I pitched 

 my rifle to my shoulder, and in another second the 

 lioness was stretched upon the plain a corpse." 



On another occasion he had a little colloquy with 

 a lioness which had a less sensational ending both for 

 the lioness and himself; in fact, each had too much 

 respect for the other to proceed to extremities. This 

 is how the hunter describes what happened : 



