272 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 
that it was the finest sight he had ever seen. For 
a while we followed them on foot; but finding at 
length that they were getting away from us and 
would soon be lost to sight over a bit of rising 
ground, we jumped quickly into the ‘¢oxga and 
galloped round the base of the knoll so as to cut 
off their retreat, the excitement of the rough and 
bumpy ride being intensified a hundredfold by the 
probability of our driving slap into the pair on 
rounding the rise. On getting to the other side, 
however, they were nowhere to be seen, so we 
drove on as hard as we could to the top, whence 
we caught sight of them about four hundred yards 
away. As there seemed to be no prospect of getting 
nearer we decided to open fire at this range, and 
at the third shot the lioness tumbled over to my 
°303. At first I thought I had done for her, as for 
a few minutes she lay on the ground kicking and 
struggling ; but in the end, although evidently 
badly hit, she rose to her feet and followed the 
lion, who had escaped uninjured, into some long 
grass from which we could not hope to dislodge 
them. 
As it was now late in the afternoon, and as there 
seemed no possibility of inducing the lions to 
leave the thicket in which they had concealed 
themselves, we turned back towards camp, intend- 
ing to come out again the next day to track the 
