126 
THE LION. 
wise lie would liardly have had time, for in a second 
or two he felt his horse stagger under him, and, on 
turning his head, saw the lioness perched on the 
hind quarters of the poor animal. Happily for my 
friend, the horse, at the instant of the attack, 
swerved to one side, and coming in contact with a 
thick thorn-bush, both the rider and the furious 
brute were swept from off its back to the ground. 
The concussion stunned Mr. Oswell, and he had no 
recollection of what afterwards occurred. As the 
lioness, however, did not molest him in any way, 
the presumption is that, what with the fall and the 
onset of the dogs, she became confused, and again 
betook herself to cover. 
Another friend of mine, a distinguished field- 
officer in Her Britannic Majesty’s Service, but whose 
name I am not at liberty to mention, had also a very 
narrow escape from a lioness, and that under very 
extraordinary circumstances. He had fired at the 
beast (having previously killed its mate), but from 
the unsteadiness of his horse he was unable to take 
a correct aim, and the ball had merely grazed her 
shoulder. She instantly charged with the usual 
demonstrations of fury, and though he urged his 
jaded steed to the utmost of its powers, the lioness 
gained rapidly upon him; at last, indeed, she ap¬ 
proached so near that he was prepared to strike her 
on the head with the butt end of his rifle. At this 
critical moment, however, to his great surprise and 
delight, the enraged brute suddenly stopped short 
in her course, and lay down on her belly, for which 
singular freak my friend was utterly unable to 
