A LION 49 



they think their officer is in danger he may as well 



talk to the wind as try to deter Arab or Sudanese from 



accompanying him. With them came the Nasr's 



son, clad in a white jibba ; my men were in khaki. 



While I was deciding what to do, the lion began to 



snarl viciously. I separated my men, and with one 



at my side pointing out the lion, which he could 



see, we all took cover in the grass, which was about 



eighteen inches high at the edge, and three feet in the 



centre of the patch. Suddenly up bounded the lion 



with a roar, and, with tail erect, charged straight for 



where my companion and I were crouching. The 



man beside me, not realising, as turned out to be the 



case, that the lion was making for the only one he 



could see — the man in white — fired his rifle and got 



up to run. In a trice the lion had carried him to the 



ground. I merely had to turn on my knee, and I 



recollect deciding, with the muzzle touching the hair, 



whether to fire in or behind the ear — so slowly do 



moments of that nature pass. The charge was not in 



itself terrifying ; the roar was insignificant. 



The nailing of the man to the ground and the 



death of the lion passed in the crack of the rifle. All 



would have been well had not one of the men, seeing, 



as he thought, his comrade being torn to pieces, 



dashed up and fired at the lion from above. His 



bullet pierced the recumbent man through the chest 



and killed him. As we dragged the lion off the last 



and only words of Ali Ahmed were : " Ya, Allah akbar ! 



ya, Allah akbar ! " (" Oh, God is great ! ") Wonderful 



is the hold of a religion of forms, that invariably brings 



D 



