152 
THE LEON. 
of a lion crouching in the bush. Softly and with 
difficulty I crept forward, followed closely by my men, 
through the high withered grass, beneath the dense 
green nabbuk bushes, peering through the thick 
covert, with nerves strung to the full pitch, and 
the finger on the trigger, ready for any emergency. 
We had thus advanced for about half an hour, 
during which I frequently applied my nose to within 
a foot of the ground to catch the scent, when 
a sudden puff of wind brought the unmistakeable 
smell of decomposing flesh. For a moment I halted, 
and looking round to my men, I made a sign that 
we were near to the carcass, and that they were to 
be ready with the rifles. Again I crept forward, 
bending, and sometimes crawling, beneath the thorns, 
to avoid the slightest noise. As I approached the 
scent became stronger, until at length I felt that I 
must be close to the carcass. This was highly 
exciting. Fully prepared for a quick shot, I 
stealthily crept on. A tremendous roar in the dense 
thorns within a few feet of me suddenly brought the 
rifle to my shoulder; almost on the same instant 
I observed the three-quarter figure of either a lion 
or a lioness within three yards of me, on the other 
side of the bush, under which I had been creeping, 
the foliage concealed the head, but I could almost 
have touched the shoulder with my rifle. Much 
depended upon the bullet, and I fired exactly through 
the centre of the shoulder. Another tremendous 
roar, and a crash in the bushes as the animal made 
a bound forward, was succeeded by a similar roar, 
as another lion took the exact position of the last. 
