268 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



humane grounds, it behoves every sportsman 

 to let no wounded animal go free. There 

 may, and there will, be occasional cases in 

 which this is impracticable, but they should 

 be admitted as seldom as possible. The in- 

 terruption of nightfall when following up 

 wounded game is frequently made an excuse, 

 but in such cases the sportsman may have 

 been to blame in firing late in the day at an 

 animal he was not sure of killing. One thing 

 is certain, and that is that between ourselves 

 and at any rate the great carnivora it is war 

 to the knife. The fear of man is still on every 

 beast so long as he leaves it unmolested, but 

 a wounded lion loses all fear in its one thought 

 of revenge. 



