Maneless Lion Killed 173 



The moon rises. Some antelopes which come to 

 drink take to flight, doubtless having scented the 

 redoubtable personage who is near to them. The 

 night passes without further incident. Every now 

 and then the lion feebly moans, thrilling us with 

 emotions until morning ; about dawn we cease to 

 hear it. 



At daybreak my men try in vain to discover the 

 whereabouts of the lion from the top of the ant-hill, 

 and, as soon as it is full daylight, we leave our post, 

 and, winding round the elevation, advance with 

 precaution to a small tree into which Kambombe 

 immediately climbs, to report to us that the lion is 

 lying against a bush twenty yards away. He can 

 only see its tail and hind paws ; nothing moves. I 

 make a detour, and, stifling the noise of my feet, get 

 within thirty yards of the animal. Its head is 

 hidden, but I see the remainder of its body lying on 

 its right side. So, hiding myself behind a thicket, I 

 use my field-glass to see if its flank rises and falls, 

 but two minutes pass without my observing any 

 movement. I throw a clod of earth near the animal, 

 my weapon ready to bring to my shoulder if it rises. 

 But it will never rise again : the lion is stone dead. 



We draw near, and I have the pleasure of looking- 



- 1 - O 



at a magnificent maneless lion stretched in a pool of 

 blood. The bullet has broken the spinal column, or 

 at least must have injured it sufficiently to make it 

 snap when the animal took a few steps ; the top of 

 the lungs is shattered, as well as part of the liver. 

 There is no trace of the second shot. 



