94 AFRICA SPEAKS 



Knowing that a partly dead lion is bad business, I 

 approached cautiously, stopping every few feet to 

 throw stones upon the recumbent beast. Nothing hap- 

 pened, so I went up to him and, leaning my rifle against 

 a near-by bush, began to prepare him for picture- 

 taking. Meanwhile the rifle shot had brought up the 

 other members of the party and all of us stood about 

 admiring the huge cat. Mike remarking on the great 

 number of Hon flies in his mane, began a search to see 

 where the buUet had entered the body. Shortly, he 

 discovered that it had gone through one eye, not even 

 damaging the eyelashes. While we were discussing 

 this fluke shot, two of my boys were busily cutting 

 down the grass in order to give a clear view for 

 some photographs. 



When this had been done I ordered one of the boys 

 to take the hon by the tail and puU him over a bit, 

 placing him in a crouching position, as this makes a 

 better picture. When he gave a yank, the hon gave a 

 roar, and aU present made backward jumps. Austin 

 suggested that air escaping from the lungs had caused 

 the noise, but when the big cat began to breathe and 

 his sides to heave, and then when one mighty forearm 

 swept around with force enough to fell an ox, we con- 

 sulted and came to the conclusion that the Hon was 

 not reaUy dead after aU. 



As it was my hon, I hastened to get my rifle before 

 the beast got up. From the time the boy puUed the 

 tail imtil I gave the coup de grace at close range, only 

 a few seconds elapsed, but during that time I remember 

 having argued with Austin who insisted on finishing 

 him with a twelve-gauge shotgun, which Avould have 

 torn a huge hole in the skin, and of taking the soft- 



