250 BIG GAME SHOOTING 
the poor beast dropped his head and lay still. On going up 
to him I found he was not quite dead, but choking fast from 
my last shot, and as I stood over him his side gave two or 
three mighty heaves, like a dog’s when in the act of disgorging 
something, and out gushed part of his last meal, an accumula- 
tion of buffalo skin, flesh, entrails, and clots of blood. This 
was his last effort, and he never moved again. Leaving some 
of the men to skin him, I went back to the buffalo and took 
up the blood-spoor of the wounded lioness, and came across 
the place where she had been lying down. She had evidently 
just left as I came up, as the blood leading to the spot was 
quite dry from the heat of the sun, whereas that leading away 
was fresh and wet. 
She unfortunately kept down wind, and although desperately 
wounded, she eventually managed, after going about two miles, 
to get into some hard stony ground, where, as her wound had 
almost stopped bleeding, I had most reluctantly to give her up. 
Several times I came across places where she had rested and 
bled profusely, and in one small pool of blood I picked up a 
piece of fiat bone, about half an inch square, with a ridge down 
the centre, evidently part of her shoulder-blade, which had 
worked out of the bullet hole ; but she never allowed me to 
approach near enough to see her in the thick covert. 
