A LION-HUNT 



my name and coming nearer and nearer. I dared not 



turn my head. 



I understood something like, " Simba ile kali sana!" 



(That lion is ugly!) 



I moved backward, always facing the lion, and ready 

 to fire, until I knew that I was near my men. My 

 "Baruti Boy," who held a double-barrelled rifle ready 

 for me, and my other two Askaris, "Baruti bin itus," 

 and Ramadan joined me, but begged me not to fire. I 

 could not restrain myself; I fired, but only grazed the 

 male lion. Reloading quickly, I fired a second bullet at 

 him. He was just turning, and the bullet struck his 

 haunch high up. In pain and rage he whirled around 

 in a circle about twelve times, reaching for the wound. 

 I fired three more shots at him ; two reached their aim, 

 and the lion fell with a groan to the ground. He was 

 dead when we got near him. 



The other lion had escaped in the mean time. Cor- 

 poral Ellis, attracted by my shooting, congratulated me 

 most heartily on my "hunter's luck," but chided me at 

 the same time for having engaged two lions without any 



assistance. 



Thus I had killed two lions in one forenoon! The 

 second was a strong, b ack-maned lion whose body was 

 covered by many scars, received, perhaps, in jealous com- 

 bat for the favors of Honesses. The male lions found on 

 the high plateau of Kikuyu have, as a rule, large and 

 often blackish manes ; those in other parts of East Africa 



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