HUNTING ELEPHANT AND RIDING LION 181 



sketches of excited men who, in the presence of dangerous 

 game, let their guns off as rapidly as they can manipulate 

 them), the advancing lion comes forward to the final attack 

 more slowly than is generally supposed, and if he is missed, 

 certainly quickens his pace. He seems scarcely ever to 

 charge at once when brought to bay, but needs an instant 

 or two to make up his mind as to which of his enemies he 

 will select. This instant's delay is, of course, the time to 

 shoot him. To do this I always, when it was possible, sat 

 down. No time is lost in sitting; the motion is very much 

 more rapid than kneeling, and the rest on both knees 

 immensely more steady than the partial, swaying rest of 

 one. The only disadvantage of the sitting position is that 

 once you have taken it, you must abide by it for you cannot 

 get up quickly. This, I hold, is its very greatest advan- 

 tage. To change position, and move around in the face of 

 imminent danger is folly. It is straight shooting that is 

 wanted then, not active jumping. There is another argument 

 in favour of sitting to receive a charge, that I think is worth 

 considering. The sitting man does not attract the same 

 amount of attention as the man who stands, jumps about 

 or runs. A restive horse or mule near by is far more likely 

 to draw a lioness charge when wounded, than a sitting 

 hunter. 



Only to-day a poor fellow, terribly mauled by a lioness, 

 has been brought into Nairobi. He and another young 

 fellow rode her. They rode too close, the old story, and 

 like a flash she turned, his horse bucked, and bursting the 

 girth, threw him almost into her jaws. The lioness sprang 

 on the kicking horse, not on the semi-conscious man. 

 She clawed the former, but it kicked free, and she was actually 

 leaving the ground when, dazed and not understanding 

 the folly of his act, the unarmed man staggered to his feet, 

 when she was on him in an instant. Poor boy! Tall 

 and strong, seven days of agony have pulled him down 



