250 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



the poor beast dropped his head and lay still. On going up 

 to him I found he was not quite dead, but choking fast from 

 my last shot, and as I stood over him his side gave two or 

 three mighty heaves, like a dog's when in the act of disgorging 

 something, and out gushed part of his last meal, an accumula- 

 tion of buffalo skin, flesh, entrails, and clots of blood. This 

 was his last effort, and he never moved again. Leaving some 

 of the men to skin him, I went back to the 'buffalo and took 

 up the blood-spoor of the wounded lioness, and came across 

 the place where she had been lying down. She had evidently 

 just left as I came up, as the blood leading to the spot was 

 quite dry from the heat of the sun, whereas that leading away 

 was fresh and wet. 



She unfortunately kept down wind, and although desperately 

 wounded, she eventually managed, after going about two miles, 

 to get into some hard stony ground, where, as her wound had 

 almost stopped bleeding, I had most reluctantly to give her up. 

 Several times I came across places where she had rested and 

 bled profusely, and in one small pool of blood I picked up a 

 piece of flat bone, about half an inch square, with a ridge down 

 the centre, evidently part of her shoulder-blade, which had 

 worked out of the bullet hole ; but she never allowed me to 

 approach near enough to see her in the thick covert. 



