162 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



charged, growling savagely as it came bound- 

 ing up the road. He made a frantic attempt 

 to mount his bicycle and failed ; then failed a 

 second time, the lion gaining on him all the 

 while ; and at last succeeded, though the 

 machine wobbled so from side to side that 

 the distance between man and beast dwindled 

 every minute. After what seemed an inter- 

 minable delay, he reached the top and flew 

 down the other slope, his machine finally 

 jumping a culvert, on coming to which the 

 lion fortunately gave up the chase. It was, 

 however, a near thing, and the cyclist made 

 up his mind to indulge in no more moonlight 

 rides in that neighbourhood. 



Even the motor-cycle has no terror for the 

 lion. A lady and gentleman, riding on these 

 machines in Central Africa, were recently 

 chased by two of these animals over a distance 

 of five miles. The lions showed no fear what- 

 ever of the noise made by the engines, but 

 galloped after them with evident intent to kill. 

 The riders outdistanced them and eventually 

 reached home much shaken by so trying an 

 experience. 



Like its little cousin, the tame cat, the lion 

 keeps its claws sheathed except in battle, so 

 that its footprints never show the claw-marks. 

 This fact has not always been honoured by 

 artists in their realistic pictures of wild life, but 



