GOOD-BYE SERGOIT 243 



glances from them easily. The frontal mark of a full- 

 grown lion's brain is not four inches across by three up and 

 down. The great incisor teeth too, are apt to catch the bullet 

 and I have known one of these shattered to the base by a 

 nose ball, and so to take the full shock of the shot. That 

 lion staggered but did not pause in his charge, and was fortu- 

 nately killed at a distance of only a few feet. It must, too, be 

 remembered that the man on horseback, when a lion has 

 been ridden, can do little to help the man on foot, who has 

 dismounted to kill. Horses are restless, and riders have them- 

 selves to look after. If there are two, or as it happened 

 twice with me, three lions, all crouching close together, some 

 visible, some not, any one in the party, mounted or on foot, 

 may have to look out for himself at an instant's notice, or 

 have to stop an enraged brute's headlong charge, at a few 

 yards' distance, or go down under it. When everything goes 

 as it has been planned there is no difficulty, but the one thing 

 and the only thing that is certain about lion shooting is, 

 that no man can say beforehand what unexpected turn mat- 

 ters may take. I have seen many natives, gunbearers and 

 hunters, who have been mauled and yet who still cheerfully 

 followed the bwana up to lion. But, so far as I have been 

 able to learn, few white men take a mauling so stoically. 

 Once downed by a lion, the white hunter has generally had 

 enough of him. One indisputably brave man, who holds, 

 I believe, the record for lions killed in East Africa (an extra- 

 ordinary record it is, and was of course made some years 

 ago it is fifty-two) openly states that he cannot and will 

 not face another. He was mauled at last, curiously enough, 

 by a very young lion. 



As to the best weapon to use, men of course will differ. 

 Each man will most likely advocate the gun he can shoot 

 best with, and there is, I think, no better rule. But gener- 

 ally speaking, heavy rifles are not the thing; they are 

 awkward to handle and burdensome to carry, and once 



