92 BIG GAME SHOOTING — 
sight of me I don’t know, but a lion broke from the bottom 
of the nullah, and scrambled up the opposite bank. It was 
a longish shot, and I think I missed. In two or three 
minutes, exactly at the spot the lion had gained the bank, 
Vardon and his party appeared ; I ran through the hollow, and 
telling him what had just happened, we put the Kafirs on the 
trail and followed. We had not gone a hundred yards before 
one of the men made signs to us to stop, and through the very 
patch of bush in which we were standing the beast came head- 
ing down again to the thickly-wooded ravine. He really was 
not more than eight feet from us, but a dry bush was between. 
I dropped on my knee, and when he was slightly in advance 
fired. It is always better to let a passéng lion get a trifle ahead 
of you ; there is more chance of a kill, less of a charge. The 
ball struck well behind the shoulder and went right through 
him. He bounded on, dabbling the bush on either side with 
blood, and then dear old Frank began to blow me up for firing 
too quickly. In this instance, I really had not done so, but 
he had not got his rifle off, not having a clean sight, or he was 
desirous that the game should get clear of the partially covering 
scrub. We never picked up this lion, for a wind arose in the 
night and blurred the spoor, and he had not died in the long 
grass, for we burnt it ; his loss was always scored against me. 
Opinions are very various about lions. There is the young 
lady’s lion, a noble generous animal, that always kills his own 
mutton, and refuses all butcher’s meat ; and the young gentle- 
man’s, whose experience, perhaps, began at Wombwell’s, and 
ended at the Zoo. His is a cowardly, sneaking brute, a regular — 
cur. There must be lions and lions. Those I have met with — 
are not above eating what may be before them, asking no ~ 
questions for conscience sake ; but as a rule, if you will take 
my advice, you will hold as straight as you can when you pit _ 
yourself against alion ; and if you accept all chances without 
picking and choosing, you'll now and again find yourself in a ~ 
warm corner. Lions are not so plentiful as blackberries, oreven — 
as buffalo, and perhaps it’s better so. I do not think his rush is so . i 
