160 THE LTOX. 



capable of producing the sound; and I at once came 

 to the conclusion that a lion was actually smelling 

 at my person. 



If a man had ever cause for dread, I think I 

 certainly had on this occasion. I became seriously 

 alarmed. o\Iy first impulse was to get hold of my 

 gun, which was lying ready cocked immediately 

 before me, and the next to raise myself partially 

 from my recumbent position. In doing so, I made as 

 little noise as possible; but slight though it might 

 be, it was sufficient to attract the notice of the 

 beast, who uttered a imiff kind of <2TO\vl, too well 



* O O ' 



known to be misunderstood. Following with my 

 eyes the direction of the sound, I endeavoured to 

 discover the lion, but could only make out a large 

 dark mass looming through the night-mist. Scarcely 

 knowing what I was about, I instinctively levelled 

 my gun at the beast. My finger was on the 

 trigger ; for a moment I hesitated ; but, by a 

 sudden impulse, pulled it, and the next instant, 

 the surrounding rocks rang with the report, 

 followed by roarings from the beast, as if in 

 the agonies of death. Well knowing what a 

 wounded lion is capable of, and how utterly helpless 

 I was, I regretted rny rashness. The wounded 

 beast, who at times seemed to be within a few paces 

 of the " screen," and at others at some little distance, 

 was rolling on, and tearing up, the ground, in con- 

 vulsive agonies. How long this struggle between 

 life and death lasted is hard to say, but to me it 

 appeared an age. Gradually, however, and to my 

 great relief, his roars and moans subsided, and after 

 a while ceased altogether. 



