340 BIG GAME SHOOTING 
to the right which gave me a good view up the waggon road 
along which I thought the lion would most likely come, and 
I placed the muzzle of my rifle in this opening when I entered 
my shelter. As the night was so light, I thought it very likely 
that my vigil might be a long one ; for even if he did not wait 
until the moon had set, I never imagined that the lion would put 
in an appearance until after midnight when the camp would 
be quite quiet. Under this impression, I had just finished the 
arrangement of my blankets, placing some behind me and ~ 
the rest beneath me, so as to make myself as comfortable as 
possible in so confined a space, and was just leaning back, 
and dreamily wondering whether I could keep awake all night, 
when, still as in a dream, I saw the form of a magnificent lion 
pass rapidly and noiselessly as a phantom of the night across ; 
the moonlit disc of the shooting-hole I had made to the right j 
of the tree stem. In another instant he had passed and was. 
hidden by the tree, but a moment later his shaggy head again ~ 
appeared before the opening formed by the diverging stems. 
Momentary as had been the glimpse I had of him as he passed 
the right-hand opening, I had marked him as a magnificent 
black-maned lion with neck and shoulders well covered with long 
shaggy hair. He now stood with his forelegs right against the _ 
breast of the dead ox, and with his head held high, gazed fixedly ~ 
towards my waggon and oxen, every one of which he could of ~ 
course see very distinctly, as well as my boy John and the ~ 
Kafirs beside him. I heard my horse snort, and knew he had ~ 
seen the lion, but the oxen, although they must have seen him ~ 
too, showed no sign of fear. The Kafirs were still laughing ~ 
and talking noisily not fifty yards away, and, bold as he was, the ~ 
lion must have felt a little anxious as he stood silently gazing — 
in the direction from which he thought danger might be appre- ~ 
hended. | 
All this time, but without ever taking my eyes off the 
lion, I was noiselessly moving the muzzle of my little rifle from 
the right-hand side opening to the space that commanded a & 
view of his head. This I was obliged to do very cautiously, for ; | 
