THE LION 175 



the hip, and coolly took him away. The unfor- 

 tunate man actually awoke to find himself being 

 carried bodily off. His cries quickly awakened 

 his companion, who rushed out with a magazine 

 rifle and fired rapidly in the direction from which 

 the sounds came. The startled lion dropped his 

 intended victim and decamped. I saw this man 

 after his discharge from hospital, where he spent 

 many weeks. He was quite recovered, but severe 

 injury to the hip bone rendered him extremely, 

 and I fear permanently, lame. In another case a 

 lion entered the tent of a friend of mine, who, 

 being fortunately a light sleeper, awoke before the 

 beast had time to do him any injury. With 

 great presence of mind, he slipped out of his camp 

 bed on the side nearest the tent wall, whence his 

 loud shouts were successful in scaring the lion 

 away. The ghastly story of the midnight marau- 

 der which entered a railway compartment on the 

 Uganda Railway and took out one of three hunters 

 who had actually come out in pursuit of it is too 

 well known to need repetition ; but perhaps suffi- 

 cient has been said to show conclusively that the 

 old supposition that hons but rarely enter a tent 

 or other shelter is entirely erroneous, and that 

 in parts of the country wherein they are numerous 

 travellers should invariably take means, by the 

 erection of a thorn zareba or fence of some kind, 

 to secure their safety and those of their native 

 followers. I think that all experienced hunters 

 and observers are agreed that dark, rainy nights 

 are those on which lions appear to lose all dread 

 of man, and when their boldest and most fatal 



