INTELLIGENCE SCOUT 95 



the wooden locker in the cart in which this spare 

 heavy rifle was kept, and the boy, returning 

 without the gun, tried to explain that the weapon 

 could not be procured unless the locker in the 

 cart was opened. Angered, it seems, at the delay, 

 Sinclair decided to see where the wounded beast 

 had got to, and, with no weapon but the small-bore 

 service rifle, started to follow the spoor. 



The lioness had not gone far before she lay 

 down — we saw the place a few weeks afterwards 

 ourselves, and, of course, also heard the full 

 account from Rensberg. She was lying in a small 

 clump of bushes, flat as a hide on the ground in 

 the way they do, and watching the approach of 

 her enemy. When Sinclair was within about 

 eighty yards, out she came like lightning, clearing 

 any small bushes in the way in great, low bounds. 

 She was on him in a twinkling, and for some 

 reason he never fired at her ; his rifle was after- 

 wards found lying loaded with the cartridge in it. 

 When dying, the poor fellow told Rensberg that 

 he never knew why he had not fired, but thought 

 that the side protectors on the foresight had 

 worried him. It was certainly not lack of nerve, 

 for Sinclair was wonderfully cool, an excellent shot, 

 and only the previous year he had stopped and 

 killed two elephants which were charging from 

 different quarters. 



The lioness seized his left arm and threw him 

 to the ground, where he was horribly bitten and 

 mauled. In spite of this, with the greatest 



