xxii HOW ROSHAN KHAN SAVED MY LIFE 255 



flying Masai. Like lightning I loaded again from 

 the magazine, but now the lion was within a spring 

 of his prey, and it seemed hopeless to expect to 

 save poor Roshan Khan from his clutches. Just at 

 this moment, however, the terrified youth caught 

 sight of the brute over his left shoulder, and 

 providentially made a quick swerve to the right. 

 As the lion turned to follow him, he came broadside 

 on to me, and just as he had Roshan Khan within 

 striking distance and was about to seize him, he 

 dropped in the middle of what would otherwise 

 assuredly have been the fatal spring bowled over 

 with a broken shoulder. This gave me time to run 

 up and give him a final shot, and with a deep roar 

 he fell back full length on the grass, stone-dead. 



I then looked round to see if Roshan Khan was 

 all right, as I was not sure whether the lion had 

 succeeded in mauling him or not. The sight that 

 met my eyes turned tragedy into comedy in an 

 instant, and made me roar with laughter; indeed, it 

 was so utterly absurd that I threw myself down on 

 the grass and rolled over and over, convulsed with 

 uncontrollable mirth. For there was Roshan Khan, 

 half-way up a thorn tree, earnestly bent on getting 

 to the very topmost branch as quickly as ever he 

 could climb ; not a moment, indeed, was he able 

 to spare to cast a glance at what "was happening 

 beneath. His puggaree had been torn off by one 



