160 
THE LTON. 
capable of producing the sound; and I at once came 
to the conclusion that a lion was actually smelling 
at my person. 
If a man had ever cause for dread,, I think I 
certainly had on this occasion. I became seriously 
alarmed. My first impulse was to get hold of my 
gun, which was lying ready cocked immediately 
before me, and the next to raise myself partially 
from my recumbent position. In doing so, I made as 
little noise as possible; but slight though it might 
be, it was sufficient to attract the notice of the 
beast, who uttered a gruff kind of growl, too well 
known to be misunderstood. Following with my 
eyes the direction of the sound, I endeavoured to 
discover the lion, but could only make out a large 
dark mass looming through the night-mist. Scarcely 
knowing what I was about, I instinctively levelled 
my gun at the beast. My finger was on the 
trigger; for a moment I hesitated; but, by a 
sudden impulse, pulled it, and the next instant, 
the surrounding rocks rang with the report, 
followed by roarings from the beast, as if in 
the agonies of death. Well knowing what a 
wounded lion is capable of, and how utterly helpless 
I was, I regretted my rashness. The wounded 
beast, who at times seemed to be within a few paces 
of the “ screen,” and at others at some little distance, 
was rolling on, and tearing up, the ground, in con¬ 
vulsive agonies. How long this struggle between 
life and death lasted is hard to say, but to me it 
appeared an age. Gradually, however, and to my 
great relief, his roars and moans subsided, and after 
a while ceased altogether. 
