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In less than five minutes after I had put the saddle on my horse 

 we were down at the little stream across which we had followed 

 the lion on the preceding day. Here the ground became stony, 

 and we lost the spoor. John was looking about near the edge 

 of the shallow water, and I had turned my horse's head to look 

 along the bank higher up, when the unmistakable growl of a 

 lion issued from the bushes beyond the rivulet, and at the same 

 time John said ' Daar's hij ' (' There he is '). I was off my horse 

 in an instant to be ready for a shot, when he turned round and 

 trotted away, and John ran to try and catch him. I thought 

 the luck was all against me, as I expected the lion would make 

 off and get clean away ; but I ran forward, trying to get a sight 

 of him, when he suddenly made his appearance in the bush 

 about fifty yards away, and catching sight of me, came straight 

 towards me at a rapid pace, holding his head low and growling 

 savagely. I suppose he wanted to frighten me, but he could 

 not have done a kinder thing. He came right on to the further 

 bank of the little stream just where it formed a pool of water, 

 and stood there amongst some rocks growling and whisking 

 his tail about, and always keeping his eyes fixed upon me. Of 

 course he gave me a splendid shot, and in another instant I 

 hit him, between the neck and the shoulder in the side of his 

 chest, with a 36o-grain expanding bullet. As I pulled the 

 trigger I felt pretty sure he was mine. With a loud roar he 

 reared right up, and coming over sideways fell off the rock on 

 which he had been standing into the pool of water below him. 

 The water was over three feet deep, and for an instant he dis- 

 appeared entirely from view, but the next instant regaining his 

 feet, stood on the bottom with his head and shoulders above 

 the surface. I now came towards him, when again seeing me 

 he came plunging through the water towards me growling 

 angrily. But his strength was fast failing him, and I saw it 

 was all he could do to reach the bank, so I did not fire, as I was 

 anxious not to make holes in his skin. He just managed to 

 get up the bank, when I finished him with a shot through the 

 lungs, to which he instantly succumbed. He proved to be a 



