CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 155 



back, I managed to bring" up one of the men 

 with a rifle, a single-barrelled weapon which, 

 in view of the presence of other lions, I pre- 

 ferred not to use first. My soldier orderly 

 had to make a second trip to get the other, 

 a double "450, for the other gun-bearer was 

 too scared to bring it himself. All this time 

 the lioness kept her position, showing no sign 

 of uneasiness, and not even stirring when I 

 took a step forward and sat down on a stone 

 so as to take steady aim. The shot knocked 

 her, dying, down the hillside, and at this the 

 other two began growling and 'wuffing, ' but, 

 to my disappointment, they did not show up. 

 I gave them a few moments' grace, and then 

 went very cautiously in their direction. Coming 

 round a huge boulder, I came suddenly on the 

 lioness, but could see only her tail, the rest 

 of her being hidden behind the rock. The 

 tail was nearest to me, but just as I caught 

 sight of it it gave such a swing that I feared 

 the lioness must have turned and might be 

 waiting to strike me down as I passed. In 

 order to avoid this, I turned back and climbed 

 the boulder quickly in the hope of seeing her 

 below me, but, alas, I never saw her again. 

 Almost immediately, however, we had a view 

 of the lion trotting away in the plain below, 

 some two hundred yards away, but the bush 

 was so thick that a shot was out of the 

 question. I saw him once again, some three 

 or four hundred yards away, and, marking 

 him as best I could by the trees, I left the 

 hill and ran after him, but the grass was very 



