242 LARGE GAME. chap. v. 



quarters, the result has generally been fatal. An old 

 hunter once told me that while stalking a sleeping herd 

 of buffalo he came across unmistakable signs of there 

 being a lion in the vicinity, and being a man who took 

 care of himself, he at once climbed up a tree, from which 

 elevation he discovered the animal, a female, crouched on 

 the edge of a clump of bush, watching the buffalo, and, 

 no doubt, wondering how she could get unperceived 

 across the bare space that intervened. Hoping that in 

 her impatience she might rouse the herd and enable him 

 to get a shot, he remained where he was until startled 

 by hearing the report of a gun, followed by a roar, 

 and then by the shrieks of a man. Concluding, as he 

 said, that he could render no assistance to the unfortu- 

 nate being, though doubtless urged by his own fears, he 

 did not descend until there had been silence for some 

 minutes, when, taking every precaution, he stole forward 

 and found the man, who was a hunter whom he knew, 

 lying dead, dreadfully mangled, within a yard of the spot 

 where the lioness had been crouched. From his former 

 elevation he had seen that the shot fired had severely 

 wounded a buffalo at which it had been aimed, and as 

 the body had not been carried off, no other cause could 

 be assigned for the attack but anger, probably mingled 

 with fear, at finding a human being so near. 



The result of such unexpected encounters is not 

 always so tragical. I remember meeting one of my 

 hunters, a thin, tall, wiry man, and a good runner, going 

 at full speed, quite regardless of the thick thorns he was 

 passing through, and which had already striped his black 

 skin with white lines, tinged with red. There was no 



