THE LION. 
239 
at liis bridle, which was fastened to the hun¬ 
ter’s arm, caused him to miss his aim. The 
lion at once bounded forward, hut stopped 
a few paces in front of Diedrich, who was 
now quite defenceless, his gun discharged 
and his horse running off. The man and 
the beast stood looking one another in the 
face for a few minutes, when the lion moved 
as if to go away. Diedrich began to reload 
his rifle; but at the noise he made the lion 
growled and returned to his former position. 
The hunter paused, and the lion again 
walked off, looking round and growling 
angrily, when the boer proceeded to ram 
down his bullet: this was repeated till the 
animal had got to some distance, when he 
quickened his steps and bounded off” 
“ I should not like to have been in his 
place w r hen his gun missed fire,” said Sidney, 
—“ nor in his horse’s either, unless he was 
a very uncommonly good-natured man.” 
“Professor Lichtenstein tells a story,” 
continued Miss Winston, “which illustrates 
not only the capricious temper of the lion, 
but the great coolness and courage of these 
men, who are as it were brought up among 
them. 
