METHODS OF LION HUNTING 337 



away up the hill. It was on the opposite side of the 

 reeds from Stephenson, but his first shot hit it and 

 it stopped and turned angrily. In another instant 

 it would have charged, but a second shot from his 

 rifle killed it instantly. Both of the animals were 

 young lionesses of the same age and nearly full 

 grown. 



Sometimes, when a lion is driven to bay in the 

 tall grass at the end of a swamp, the beaters refuse 

 to advance, and it then becomes necessary for the 

 hunter to go in and take the lead. An occasion of 

 this sort was among the most thrilling of my Afri- 

 can experiences. 



An immense swamp had been beaten out and 

 nothing had developed until the beaters were almost 

 at the end of the swamp. Extending from the end 

 and joining it was a patch of wire-like reeds, eight 

 or ten feet high and covering two or three acres. 

 This high grass was almost impenetrable by a man, 

 and it was only possible to go through it by throw- 

 ing one's weight forward and crushing down the 

 dense growth. The grass grew from hummocks, 

 between wiiich were deep water channels. An ani- 

 mal could glide through these channels, but a man 

 must batter his way through the stockade of dense 

 grass that spread out above. 



It was in this place that the lion was first heard 

 and the beaters refused to follow it in. Guttural 

 grunts and snarls came from that uninviting jun- 

 gle, and we knew that the only way to force the lion 

 out was to go in and drive it out. 



