274 LARGE GAME. CHAP. v. 



but by that she had taken to. I do not think that she 

 was, properly speaking, a man-eater, for so long as she 

 found meat handy she did not go further, but she cer- 

 tainly had the name, and had killed two men, and would, 

 no doubt, if hard pressed by hunger, have killed more, so 

 that she was as well dead. 



A Hon will seldom stand much bullying. He may, 

 and often will, get out of your way, nay, even leave his 

 prey if you approach it, and, should you follow him, will 

 perhaps do so a second time, but that is about the extent 

 of it. He seems to argue, " I 've retired twice, and here 

 you are at me again ; well, if you must have it, come on 

 nearer, if you dare;" and then, if a male, he growls deeply, 

 and makes his mane bristle up round him ; or, if a lioness, 

 crouches down like a cat, lays her ears back, and shows 

 her teeth, and in most such cases, when the brute is fairly 

 roused, a charge is inevitable, whether you advance or 

 retire. 



On one occasion I disturbed a Hon once too often, 

 though he did not charge, but warned me back by a low 

 threatening moan out of the reeds where he was concealed, 

 a sound that I well knew meant that he was in a bad 

 temper, and that I had better not come too close. I was 

 out hunting, and was walking along the bank of the river, 

 when suddenly the brute got up and roared a few yards 

 off. I could not see him, but the sound made me jump, 

 • anfi, when . I . recovered myself I went round the thicket 

 ana saw a dead' buffalo, from which I had disturbed him. 

 lAft:t ; k^ skin; was. almost perfect, I told my boys to take it 

 off, and meantime I went after some water-antelopes I 

 could see about half a mile off. I could not get near 



