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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



side, saw where the Hne was thinnest, 

 and charged at his topmost speed. The 

 crowded moment began. With shields 

 held steady and quivering spears poised, 

 the men in front braced themselves for 

 the rush and the shock, and from either 

 hand the warriors sprang forward to take 

 their foe in flank. Bounding ahead of 

 his fellows, the leader reached throwing 

 distance ; the long spear flickered and 

 plunged; as the lion felt the wound he 

 half turned, and then flung himself on 

 the man in front. The warrior threw 

 his spear ; it drove deep into the life, for 

 entering at one shoulder it came out of 

 the opposite flank, near the thigh — a yard 

 of steel through the great body. Rear- 

 ing, the lion struck the man, bearing 

 down the shield, his back arched, and for 

 a moment he slaked his fury with fang 

 and talon. But on the instant I saw 

 another spear driven clear through his 

 body from side to side ; and, as the lion 



turned again, the bright spear blades 

 darting toward him were flashes of white 

 flame. The end had come.* He seized 

 another man, who stabbed him and 

 wrenched loose. As he fell he gripped 

 a spear-head in his jaws with such tre- 

 mendous force that he bent it double. 

 Then the warriors were round and over 

 him, stabbing and shouting, wild with 

 furious exultation. 



"From the moment when he charged 

 until his death I doubt whether ten sec- 

 onds had elapsed, perhaps less ; but what 

 a ten seconds ! The first half dozen 

 spears had done the work. Three of the 

 spear-blades had gone clear through the 

 body, the points projecting several inches, 

 and these and one or two others, includ- 

 ing the one he had seized in his jaws, 

 had been twisted out of shape in the 

 terrible death struggle."* 



* All the quotations from "African Game 

 Trails" are copyrighted by Charles Scribner's 

 Sons. 



\ 



u 



A DE:f*ORME:d branch of a HACKBERRY rRtt WHICH HAS BttN IN^E^CT^D BY 



mistle:toe: p^or te:n to twe:lve: ye:ars, near bj:]:vTon, te:xas 



The dwarfing of the branch beyond the place of infection is shown. The original 

 mistletoe plant has been destroyed, leaving a decayed spot. The young shoots of mistletoe 

 seen are from adventitious buds. 



