CHAP. v. LIONS. 241 



On another occasion a hunter of mine was following 

 the trail of a herd of buffalo through some dense thickets, 

 alone, and armed with only a single barrel. Suddenly a 

 male lion rose out of one of them, and, sitting on its hind- 

 quarters, snarled at him ; he had hardly seen it when 

 another, about three-quarters grown, showed itself within 

 a few yards on one side, while from behind he could hear 

 the low rumbling growl of a third. Partly turning, so as 

 to watch them all, he saw that the latter was a lioness, and 

 that three cubs not much larger than cats were following 

 her. He had, unawares, got into the centre of a lion 

 family. Unfortunately, one of the cubs saw him, and 

 without exhibiting the least fear, ran up to him ; upon 

 which its mother, in terror for her offspring, rushed up, 

 and, as he afterwards described it, fairly danced round 

 and round him, springing to within a yard of him, side- 

 ways, backwards, and in every way but on him. Luckily 

 he was a man of iron nerve, and bred from the cradle in 

 scenes like these ; he therefore remained quiet, taking no 

 more notice of the frantic rage of the lioness than if she 

 had not existed, for, as he said, " it was a hundred to 

 one that I did not kill the mother, and, if I had, the 

 other two would soon have avenged her." It ended by 

 their ultimately retiring into the thicket, and watching 

 him as he cleared out, but there can be no doubt that 

 any hesitation, nervousness, or involuntary movement on 

 his part would have been fatal. 



There are many instances of lions having evidently 

 attacked a human being from no other reason but sur- 

 prise and fear at suddenly finding themselves so close to 

 him, and, as in most cases when they come to close 



Q 



