180 THE LION. 



in front of us, and we both instinctively stooped, 

 or rather bobbed, behind it. The beast came on, 

 however, round the side where Woodhouse was. He 

 could oppose to him only an unloaded gun, which he 

 had in his hand ; but the lion seizing him at once by 

 the wrist, and clawing him on the shoulder, he fell 

 directly, the brute remaining on the top of him, 

 biting his arm ! I had another barrel left, and I 

 instantly placed the muzzle within two inches of his 

 side, in the region of the heart, and discharged it. 

 It was a heavy gun and of large bore (14), but he 

 took no notice whatever of the shot. Woodhouse 

 now said, ' There is another barrel,' alluding to 

 one of his own. There were three guns lying around 

 which I took up, and, one after the other, cocked 

 and snapped at the beast's head, but .with no result. 

 It afterwards appeared, however, that one of them, 

 though really loaded, wanted the copper cap. 



" I had now no other alternative than to proceed in 

 quest of my other gun. To attempt'to knock a brute 

 of that description on the head would, I well knew, 

 have been worse than useless, his brain being too 

 well protected to be at all affected by any blow in 

 my power to inflict. 



" It took me some little time to obtain and load my 

 gun ; for the elephant, hearing the roaring, had 

 carried off Laing, and the other people had fled. I, 

 however, at last got my ' Joe Manton ' fowling- 

 piece. It was only of 19 bore, but carried ball well, 

 and with this I returned towards the spot where 

 Woodhouse lay. Laing accompanied me, but from 

 his inexperience in the cJtasse, and want of expert- 



