ENCOUNTER -WITH A LION. 269 



lower bank, immediately adjacent to the river's mar- 

 gin. I had brought out eleven of my dogs, and before 

 I could come up three of them were killed. On reach- 

 ing the spot I found it impossible to obtain the small- 

 est glimpse of the lion, although the ground favored me, 

 [ having the upper bank to stand upon ; so, dismount- 

 ing from my horse, I tried to guess, from his horrid 

 growling, his exact position, and fired several shots on 

 chance, but none of these hit him. I then commenced 

 pelting him with lumps of earth and sticks, there being 

 no stones at hand. This had the effect of making him 

 shift his position, but he still kept in the densest part 

 of the reeds, where I could do nothing with him. 



Presently my followers came up, who, as a matter, of 

 course, at once established themselves safely in the tops 

 of thorn-trees. After about ten minutes' bullying, the 

 lion seemed to consider his quarters too hot for him, 

 and suddenly made a rush to escape from his persecu- 

 tors, continuing his course down along the edge of the 

 river. The dogs, however, again gave him chase, and 

 soon brought him to bay in another dense patch of reeds, 

 just as bad as the last. Out of this in a few minutes 

 X managed to start him, when he bolted up the river, 

 and came to bay in a narrow strip of reeds. Here ha 

 lay so close that for a long time I could not ascertain 

 his whereabouts ; at length, however, he made a charge 

 among the dogs, and, coming forward, took up a posi- 

 tion near the outside of the reeds, where for the first 

 time I was enabled to give him a shot. My ball enter- 

 ed his body a little behind the shoulder. On receiving 

 it, he charged growling after the dogs, but not further 

 than the edge of the reeds, out of which he was ex- 

 tremely reluctant to move. I gave him a second shot, 

 firing for his head ; my ball entered at the edge of his 



