THE KATHIAWAH LION. 751 



damage amongst the cattle. Countermanding my orders for striking 

 camp, I rode off at once to the Ness, taking my guns with me. On 

 arrival there I found that three cows had been killed by the lions, 

 two of them only had been partially devoured, the third being 

 intact j two more had been badly mauled and a sixth was missing. 

 The pagis were already on the tracks and I soon caught them up and 

 kept with them for several hours. We made but slow progress over 

 the hard ground and I was not sorry when they suggested that 

 I should halt for a rest whilst they went on with their work, as I 

 could catch them up again later on when they would call me. I 

 had waited quite two hours and was beginning to think that after 

 all the lions had eluded us, when the messenger came to say that 

 they had been tracked down. The lions were as usual resting 

 under a large banyan tree, at the foot of a rocky hill, known as the 

 Kadlidhar. Ismail was not with me on this occasion. The ground 

 was too open, the pagis declared to walk up the lions, so on their 

 advice I decided to try a drive. I only had eleven men with me. 

 I took up my position in a low tree overlooking a shallow 

 nctia leading past it, and coming direct from the banyan tree 

 under which the lions were lying up and which they were likely 

 to follow. The coolies were instructed not to shout until they 

 were close to the lions. All was done as arranged, but the 

 lions, instead of following the nala right up to my tree, only 

 did so for a short distance and then turned off, up the hill just 

 opposite me. 



I managed, however, to get in two rather long shots at them as 

 they were leisurely trotting away. I missed the leading lion, 

 but dropped the second one. It immediately recovered itself but 

 instead of following its companion, came wheeling round in my 

 direction in a dazed kind of way and I had no difficulty in killing 

 it with another shot. 



The missing cow was found quietly grazing in the jungle close 

 to where the lions were lying up. The pagis had noticed its 

 tracks when following up the latter. 



The lion measured 9 feet and had a medium-sized mane. The 

 one which got away was a much finer beast. This was the last lion 

 I shot, although I have since assisted others to get one. In my 



