102 
the lion. 
lection, accompanied by two cubs about tWO' 
thirds grown. The party pursued on foot a® 
last as the newly ploughed ground would pet' 
mit, till suddenly one of the men who 
been stationed in the trees called out to tb® 
hunters to be upon their guard. In cons^' 
quence they turned aside to some height®' 
whence they descried an enormous lion ap' 
proaching them through an open field at an 
easy canter, and lashing with his tail in a styl'^ 
of inexpressible grandeur. 
^ The foremost of the party presented theh 
pieces, and fired just as the animal had cleared 
at one bound a chasm twelve feet broa^^ 
which was between them. Though apP^' 
rently wounded in the shoulder, he spruno- at 
one of the gentlemen, whose arm he dread- 
fully lacerated. Feeling at the same moment 
a peon’s lance, he relinquished his first holA 
seized the poor man by the throat, and stran- 
gled him before the party durst fire for feat 
