68 BIG GAME SHOOTING 
rely on. I, have a weakness for a second bullet, and backing 
my pony a little further off I told my after-rider to go to the 
waggon and bring me a fresh supply. He was only absent a 
few minutes, I keeping watch on the lioness meanwhile, On 
his return I loaded the empty barrel, and, getting off for a 
steady shot, found to my dismay that, although I could see 
her well enough whilst sitting on my horse, the long grass 
hid her entirely when on my feet. I could not remount, 
for the after-rider had removed the horse, and it is not pro- 
bable the lioness would have allowed me to do so without 
interference. For a moment I was in a fix, but about ten 
yards to my left I saw a dead mimosa-tree with a fork in, it 
five feet from the ground. It appeared my only chance, 
though a risky one ; and I wonder to this day that the beast 
did not charge when she saw the scrub moving as I passed 
through it. She did not, however, and I gained my fork and 
could now see her quite plainly, and she me likewise, for she 
never took her eyes off for one second. Her head was full 
front. I aimed between her eyes, but a twig must have 
turned the ball, for I was firing from a rest, and it only bored 
a clean hole through her ear. She struck it angrily with her 
paw, and then faced me again. The second shot was more 
successful, and she dropped dead. I had hit her the first time 
very far aft, but I think she must have been more crippled 
than I had supposed, or she would never have allowed me to 
move about so clumsily without attempting a diversion. 
The second attack, a year afterwards, was not so prolonged, 
but the lions pressed the men so hard that they had to take 
refuge between the fires and the hedge of the kraal, and the 
beasts twice crossed the line of firelight in pursuit. The third 
imbroglio at this water was more serious, but the initiative this 
time was with me. John, my after-rider, woke me very early 
one morning to tell me a lioness and her cub were drinking at 
the spring, from which we were lying only 200 yards dis- 
tant. Ordering him to saddle two horses—they had not yet 
been loosed from the waggon-wheels to which we always 
oe 
