METHODS OF LION HUNTING 331 



us, and at last there was no doubt about its destina- 

 tion. It was coming- to the bait. How my eyes 

 strained to pierce the darkness and how breath- 

 lessly I waited with rifle in readiness ! But the lion 

 only paused at the bait, and as I waited for it to 

 settle down to its feast it went grunting away and 

 the chance was gone. Perhaps it had already fed, 

 or perhaps it was an unusually fastidious lion which 

 desired to do its own killing. 



An hour or two later, both gunbearers asleep and 

 one snoring peacefully, I became aware of a large 

 animal feeding at the bait. Although no sound 

 had preceded its coming, I thought it might be a 

 lion, but feared that it was a hyena. I fired at the 

 dark, shifting, black shadow and the roar of the big 

 rifle shattered the silence like a clap of unexpected 

 thunder. Then there was such a dense silence that 

 it seemed to ring in one's ears. 



Had I hit or missed ? That could not be decided 

 until daybreak, for it is the height of folly to climb 

 down from a tree to feel the pulse of a wounded 

 lion. 



When daybreak came we made an investigation. 

 Only the mangled remains of the carcass lay below. 

 Later in the day some members of our party came 

 across the dead body of a hyena lying about a hun- 

 dred yards from the tree, partly hidden by a little 

 clump of bushes. Its backbone was shattered by a 

 .475 bullet. 



Thus ended my first and only adventure in the 

 "tree method." 



