Missed ! 8 1 



Tchigallo and Rodzani are behind the lions, which 

 are consequently between them and us. At a sign 

 from me they enter the grass without precaution, 

 exchanging a few words. . . . At the same moment 

 three lions bound into the open space and turn round 

 in the direction of the noise. . . . During the two or 

 three seconds which elapse I examine them rapidly. 

 Nearest to us there is a young lion or a, female 

 lion ; in front is a female lion ; arid in the middle is a 

 lion with his dark mane erect and his teeth showing. 

 All three are growling, as all lions do when disturbed. 

 . . . After glancing in the direction of the intruders, 

 they swing round and come towards us, not straight 

 but in such a manner that we are on the left. . . . 

 " Don't move," I murmur to my men. ... I let the 

 lioness pass, and aiming at the lion's neck, pull 

 the trigger. . . . Owing to the absence of smoke, I 

 see that he does not fall : so, without taking my 

 weapon from my shoulder, I fire a second bullet at 

 his shoulder-blade, jumping aside with the other 

 loaded rifle. The lion roars with pain, and disappears 

 with his family in the grass. . . . 



I am not at all pleased. First of all, I have missed 

 his neck, because he was trotting; then, I do not know 

 exactly where I have hit him at the second shot. In 

 any case his roaring tells me that he is wounded. 

 Seeing him spring forward with tail erect, I expected 

 a charge. (I have already said that the absence of 

 smoke, and the reverberation of the shot, prevent 

 animals from finding out the position of the sportsman, 

 and in this case the most natural movement the beast 



6 



