LION HUNTING ON THE KAPITI PLAINS 67 
on a lion hunt, had been set afoot by one of the animals he 
was after, which had killed his horse. It was at night and 
the horse was tethered within six yards of his sleeping 
master. The latter was aroused by the horse galloping off, 
and he heard it staggering on for some sixty yards before 
it fell. He and his friend followed it with lanterns and 
drove off the lion, but the horse was dead. The tracks and 
the marks on the horse showed what had happened. The 
lion had sprung clean on the horse’s back, his fore claws 
dug into the horse’s shoulders, his hind claws cutting into 
its haunches, while the great fangs bit at the neck. The 
horse struggled off at a heavy run, carrying its fearsome 
burden. After going some sixty yards the lion’s teeth 
went through the spinal cord, and the ride was over. 
Neither animal had made a sound, and the lion’s feet did 
not touch the earth until the horse fell. 
While a magistrate in the Transvaal, Pease had under 
him as game officer a white hunter, a fine fellow, who under¬ 
went an extraordinary experience. He had been off some 
distance with his Kaffir boys, to hunt a lion. On his way 
home the hunter was hunted. It was after nightfall. He 
had reached a region where lions had not been seen for a 
long time, and where an attack by them was unknown. 
He was riding along a trail in the darkness, his big boar- 
hound trotting ahead, his native ‘‘boys” some distance 
behind. He heard a rustle in the bushes alongside the 
path, but paid no heed, thinking it was a reedbuck. Im¬ 
mediately afterward two lions came out in the path behind 
and raced after him. One sprang on him, tore him out 
of the saddle, and trotted off holding him in its mouth, while 
the other continued after the frightened horse. The lion 
