340 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



to the right which gave me a good view up the waggon road 

 along which I thought the lion would most likely come, and 

 I placed the muzzle of my rifle in this opening when I entered 

 my shelter. As the night was so light, I thought it very likely 

 that my vigil might be a long one ; for even if he did not wait 

 until the moon had set, I never imagined that the lion would put 

 in an appearance until after midnight when the camp would 

 be quite quiet. Under this impression, I had just finished the 

 arrangement of my blankets, placing some behind me and 

 the rest beneath me, so as to make myself as comfortable as 

 possible in so confined a space, and was just leaning back, 

 and dreamily wondering whether I could keep awake all night, 

 when, still as in a dream, I saw the form of a magnificent lion 

 pass rapidly and noiselessly as a phantom of the night across 

 the moonlit disc of the shooting-hole I had made to the right 

 of the tree stem. In another instant he had passed and was 

 hidden by the tree, but a moment later his shaggy head again 

 appeared before the opening formed by the diverging stems. 

 Momentary as had been the glimpse I had of him as he passed 

 the right-hand opening, I had marked him as a magnificent 

 black-inaned lion with neck and shoulders well covered with long 

 shaggy hair. He now stood with his forelegs right against the 

 breast of the dead ox, and with his head held high, gazed fixedly 

 towards my waggon and oxen, every one of which he could of 

 course see very distinctly, as well as my boy John and the 

 Kafirs beside him. I heard my horse snort, and knew he had 

 seen the lion, but the oxen, although they must have seen him 

 too, showed no sign of fear. The Kafirs were still laughing 

 and talking noisily not fifty yards away, and, bold as he was, the 

 lion must have felt a little anxious as he stood silently gazing 

 in the direction from which he thought danger might be appre- 

 hended. 



All this time, but without ever taking my eyes off the 

 lion, I was noiselessly moving the muzzle of my little rifle from 

 the right-hand side opening to the space that commanded a 

 view of his head. This I was obliged to do very cautiously, for 



