CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 153 



man suddenly found himself face to face with 

 four full-grown lions. He dared not fire, for 

 at most he might have killed one of the party, 

 and, for aught he knew to the contrary, the 

 others might have set upon him to avenge 

 their comrade. So, with extraordinary presence 

 of mind, he unstrapped his field-glasses, rushed 

 at the lions with a loud yell, and flung the 

 glasses at them. So terrified were the brutes 

 by his extraordinary behaviour that all four 

 turned tail and bolted into the bush. It must 

 have needed remarkable nerve to run towards 

 four lions in this way, and anyone less brave 

 would have fired wildly at the lions or run 

 away from them, either of which mistakes 

 might have cost him his life. 



Another adventure of the kind, still more 

 desperate in some ways, befell Mr. Percy 

 Reid. He had fired at a lioness and wounded 

 her, having mistaken her, in the long grass, 

 for an antelope of some kind. Next moment, 

 to his horror, out came the wounded lioness, 

 with two others and a lion. Here, indeed, 

 was a pleasant moment, the kind of moment 

 in which a man sees all his past. The wounded 

 beast charged, but for some reason she swerved 

 to one side and missed him, looking over her 

 shoulder and growling savagely as she went 

 by. Then the others moved away. Mr. Reid 

 asked Selous what he would have done in the 



