214 A LION HUNT. 



from time to time hollow, half-suppressed roars, 

 which, however, were inaudible from the now unin- 

 terrupted rattle of the thunder. Her companion lay 

 about twenty paces behind her. Major C. begged 

 us to let him have a first shot at her, to try a new 

 rifle he had brought as his second gun, and we halted 

 while he fired at about thirty-five paces ; but his ball 

 fell three yards short, and to our surprise, was quite 

 unnoticed by the lioness, who still lay as we again 

 advanced. Suddenly the two dogs made a violent 

 rush forward, and Captain A., alarmed for his 

 favorite, exclaimed, ' Let us fire now !' 



" He, and Mr. B. fired and wounded her; in- 

 stantaneously bounding on her feet, she was coming 

 in with a heavy lumbering gallop, when a volley of 

 four shots sent her rolling over head-foremost ; and 

 the dogs running in, began to lay hold and bite at 

 her hind legs, instinctively keeping at a respectful 

 distance from her head ; but she was quite dead. 

 , "■ We reloaded to prepare for the other, but she, or 

 he, (for we had afterwards reason to believe it was a 

 young male) had risen on the first rush of the dogs, 

 and turning about a hundred yards off, one of the 

 shooters had seen him couch again. However, he 

 was now nowhere to be seen, having probably stolen 

 off during the smoke of our shots ; and we ran 

 up to where the first lay, and stood gazing in admi- 

 ration of our prize. She was a very handsome, full- 

 grown lioness, measuring nine feet from nose to 



P 



