276 LARGE GAME. CHAP. v. 



I was very lame at the time, but I set off running too, 

 and on getting clear of a small thicket that obstructed my 

 view, I saw him about a hundred yards behind one which 

 had separated frem its mates, stopping when it stopped, 

 and sometimes covering it, but always keeping about the 

 same distance between them. The other hunters had all 

 passed me by this time, and I could hear them shouting 

 to him to wait till they came up ; but he was always an 

 obstinate fellow, and I had not run many hundred yards 

 more, when I saw that the lion had pulled up again, and 

 that he was covering it, and this time he fired. 



I saw him abandon his gun and make for a tree close 

 by, but the lion caught him with two springs at the 

 foot of it, and threw him down, seemingly not trying to 

 injure him, and eyeing the other men, two of whom were 

 well up, the other, Mahlatine by name, and far the fastest 

 of the three, having climbed up a tree when he saw how 

 things were going. The two men pulled up about thirty 

 yards off, I now shouting to them to wait for me, and one 

 levelled and fired, only striking up the dust, and then 

 turning in disgust, rushed to the tree where Mahlatine 

 was, and climbing up, wrenched his gun from him, giving 

 him a nasty fall in the process, and at once returned to 

 the scene of action. 



The other man, Untabine, the best shot I ever saw at 

 dangerous game, left to himself, walked a little nearer, and 

 despite my cries of " Wait a second," as I panted up, knelt 

 down, and taking a deliberate aim, dropped the lion dead 

 over its victim, shot through the brain. It is possible the 

 poor fellow might have lived had there been medical 

 assistance on the spot, for the wound in his thigh, though 



