MORE LIONS 



of advance. My own position was not bad, for I had 

 the rifle ready in my hand, but the men were in dan- 

 ger. Of course I was protecting them as well as I 

 could, but there was always a chance that the lion- 

 ess might spring on them in such a manner that I 

 would be unable to use my weapon. Once I sug- 

 gested that as the work was dangerous, they could 

 quit if they wanted to. 



"Hapana!" they both refused indignantly. 



We had proceeded thus for half a mile when to our 

 relief, right ahead of us, sounded the commanding, 

 rumbling half-roar, half-growl of the lion at bay. 



Instantly Memba Sasa and Mavrouki dropped 

 back to me. We all peered ahead. One of the 

 boys made her out first, crouched under a bush 

 thirty-two yards away. Even as I raised the rifle 

 she saw us and charged. I caught her in the chest 

 before she had come ten feet. The heavy bullet 

 stopped her dead. Then she recovered and started 

 forward slowly, very weak, but game to the last. 

 Another shot finished her. 



The remarkable point of this incident was the 

 action of the little Springfield bullet. Evidently 

 the very high velocity of this bullet from its shock to 

 the nervous system had delivered a paralyzing blow 

 sufficient to knock out the lioness for the time 

 being. Its damage to tissue, however, was slight. In- 



153 



