CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 157 



be a fine wildebeest, as it had the curious 

 appearance of being all neck and shoulders 

 familiar in that eccentric-looking antelope. 

 On looking more carefully, however, Mr. Reid 

 saw that what he had taken for a wildebeest 

 was in reality a magnificent lion, evidently re- 

 turning from its night's hunting to lie up in 

 one of the reed-beds at the river-side. He ran 

 along with the object of cutting off the lion's 

 retreat, but it was too quick for him, and he 

 had only time for a hurried shot at about 

 1 20 yards range, at the moment when it 

 reached shelter. He distinctly heard the thud 

 of the bullet, and the wounded lion sprang into 

 the reeds with a loud grunt. It was obviously 

 useless to follow it alone into its hiding-place, 

 so he went back to camp and, with a friend, 

 turned out the dogs and native boys, the latter 

 numbering about forty and being armed with 

 knives and assegais. The sportsmen had their 

 rifles, and the whole company set out to beard 

 the lion in his den. Mr. Reid reminds me 

 that all this happened many years ago, when 

 he was young and hasty, and I am bound to 

 confess that he and his friend seem to have 

 behaved on this occasion with a want of caution 

 which, with the average wounded lion at bay, 

 would have given them a poor chance of es- 

 caping with their lives. The reed-bed was an 

 isolated patch covering rather more than an 



