228 LARGE GAME. CHAP. v. 



has killed the ' chief,' what will the boys who laughed at 

 him say ?" was the reply. 



" Not much, I suppose ; but you 'd like to have the 

 claws, I fancy. Well, you shall have them ; but don't get 

 me into trouble in Zululand by wearing them there on 

 our way home. Now tell me how you killed it, and let 

 the rest of the men go to their own camp." A suppressed 

 murmur of thanks for my giving one of their number the 

 much-prized claws, worn as a necklace, and in Zululand 

 belonging exclusively to royalty, and we were alone. 

 " Now, how was it ?" 



"You know, sir," he replied, "that I reported last 

 night that I had wounded a cow (buffalo), but that it was 

 too dark to follow it up ; so this morning I took up the 

 spoor, and found it lying dead, having fallen just outside 

 the jungle it had been making for, and by the carcase 

 there were three ftill-grown lions feeding. Two of them, 

 lionesses, ran away as soon as they saw me, but the third, 

 a male, walked coolly and slowly after them, turning 

 round his great head every moment to watch me. 



" There was a thorn-tree between us, and when I got 

 pretty close to it I thought I would try and make him go 

 a little faster, so I knelt down and fired at his stern. His 

 hind-quarters dropped, and he began to roar, but as I 

 stood under the tree loading, ready to climb up, he par- 

 tially recovered, dragged himself to a small bush not far 

 off, and lay down under it. Then I fired again, but it 

 was too far for me to make sure, and the bullet struck the 

 ground close by him, only producing a snarl and an angry 

 dash of his paws. I reloaded, and this time ran on to a 

 small mimosa not a hundred yards from him. I ran quick, 



