160 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



the pleasing information that lions were after 

 the donkeys. Snatching up his rifle and cart- 

 ridge-belt, he ran off, followed, as luck would 

 have it, by three or four of the dogs, which 

 took up the scent of a lion before they had run 

 a couple of hundred yards and dashed off full 

 cry into the bush, with Mr. Reid at their heels. 

 As he proceeded, the bush became thicker and 

 thicker, and at last he had to stoop and crawl 

 under it as best he could. It was so dense, 

 indeed, that he could only push on with the 

 greatest difficulty, though he could hear the 

 dogs baying the lion in the distance. More 

 than once the lion managed to break away 

 from them, only to be brought to bay again a 

 little farther on. The light was failing by 

 now, and Mr. Reid was just thinking of giving 

 up the hunt when he realised, from the sounds 

 of the fray, that he must be getting very near, 

 and suddenly he came on a fine lioness lying 

 facing him, under a bush about ten yards away, 

 with the dogs round her. It was much too 

 dark to see the rifle-sights, so he took the best 

 aim he could and fired. Fortunately, the bullet 

 caught the lioness in the mouth and dropped 

 her dead where she lay, but, with a less lucky 

 shot, the result of the encounter might have 

 been very different. 



It might have been thought that the disturb- 

 ing spectacle of a man on a bicycle would, in 



