THE LION. 
229 
said Richard, in a tone of profound contempt. 
“ I guess you would not catch Long John or 
Erastus Waterman shooting a bluebird. I 
remember, when I was quite a little hoy, 
hearing John scolding a fellow who had 
brought away a nest of young squirrels, too 
young to eat their food or to he raised. I said 
to him afterwards, 4 But I have seen you bring 
in twenty or thirty squirrels at a time for 
sale.’ 4 Ah, yes,’ he said ,' 4 but that’s different. 
Nobody disputes but what men have a right 
to eat such creatures. When a squirrel is 
dead he is dead; and when I shoot him he 
don’t know what hurts him.’ ” 
44 And that’s true,” said Sidney. 44 But 
now for our African lions.” 
44 The African lion,” said Miss Winston, 
“ is spread over the whole continent, from 
north to south and from east to west; but 
the central and southern parts seem to be 
his peculiar haunts. There he finds springs 
and streams of water to allay his thirst, 
coverts in which to repose during the heat of 
the day, and, above all, an unlimited supply 
of food in the countless herds of zebras and 
quaggas, of antelopes, of all sorts of elands, 
springboks and oryx, which rove over those 
20 
