150 THE LION. 



great distance, and effectually saved the lion. I was 

 much disappointed, as we should have had a glorious 

 fight, and I had long sought for an opportunity of 

 witnessing an attack on the lion with the sword. 



O 



The Aggajeers were equally annoyed, and they 

 explained that they should have been certain to kill 

 him. Their plan was to ride upon either flank, at a 

 few yards distance, when he would have charged 

 one man, who would have dashed away, while the 

 other hunter would have slashed the lion through 

 the back with his sword. They declared that a 

 good hunter should be able to protect himself by a 

 back-handed blow with his sword, should the lion 

 attack the horse from behind ; but that the great 

 danger in a lion-hunt arose, when the animal took 

 refuge in a solitary bush, and turned to bay. In 

 such instances, the hunters surrounded the bush, 

 and rode directly towards him, when he generally 

 sprang out upon some man or horse, and was then 

 cut down immediately by the sabre of the next 

 hunter. The Aggajeers declared that, in the event 

 of an actual fight, the death of the lion was sure 

 although one or more men or horses might bo 

 wounded, or perhaps killed." 



Though Sir Samuel Baker was never fortunate 



o 



enough to see the lion vanquished by the sabre alone, 

 yet several of these noble beasts fell to his deadly 

 rifle, and amongst them more than one that he 

 "bearded in its very den," a feat not so very often 

 performed even by the boldest of Ximrods. After 

 telling us that on a certain night they were serenaded 



