LIONS 



way about — of the German who shot one from the 

 train on the way up from Mombasa; of the young 

 English tenderfoot who, the first day out, came on 

 three asleep, across a river, and potted the lot; and 

 so on. The point is, that in the case of lions the 

 element of sheer chance seems to begin earlier and 

 last longer than is the case with any other beast. 

 And, you must remember, experience must thrust 

 through the luck element to the solid ground of 

 averages before it can have much value in the way 

 of generalization. Before he has reached that 

 solid ground, a man's opinions depend entirely on 

 what kind of lions he chances to meet. In what cir- 

 cumstances, and on how matters happen to shape 

 in the crowded moments. 



But though lack of sufficiently extended expe- 

 rience has much to do with these decided differences 

 of opinion, I believe that misapprehension has also 

 its part. The sportsman sees lions on the plains. 

 Likewise the lions see him, and promptly depart to 

 thick cover or rocky butte. He comes on them in 

 the scrub; they bound hastily out of sight. He may 

 even meet them face to face, but instead of attack- 

 ing him, they turn to right and left and make off in 

 the long grass. When he follows them, they sneak 

 cunningly away. If, added to this, he has the good 

 luck to kill one or two stone dead at a single shgt 



J27 



