THE SETTIT RIVER 115 



took the 470 myself, with soft-nosed cartridges, and 

 we started to track up the wounded lion. Some 

 vultures had collected on a little rising ground ahead, 

 and the shikari seemed confident that he was dead, 

 and described the small quantity of blood as a good 

 sign, though I still suspected only a slight wound. 

 However, on ahead we began to find regular drops of 

 blood, and there were several places where the lion had 

 obviously lain down, and marks where the shikaris 

 said that he had clawed the ground, and finally we 

 found a handful of foam quite wet on the ground, and 

 it became certain that the lion was hard hit and close 

 ahead. The trail took us to a khor with steep sides, 

 and an open space at the bottom, and this khor my 

 men were all descending, following the trail, when my 

 good angel whispered a warning, which undoubtedly 

 saved the life of at least one man. Accordingly I 

 stopped the shikaris, and took up a commanding 

 position over the khor, into which I began to throw 

 large boulders. I had not thrown half a dozen into a 

 suspicious clump of bushes before there were a stir 

 and a growl not more than 15 yards ahead of where 

 I had stopped the trackers, and it became certain that 

 we had marked down the wounded lion, and just 

 stopped walking through a tangled mass of thorns 

 right into his mouth. We then collected on the bluff 

 where I had stood to throw the stones, which com- 

 manded practically the entire open space at the 



