68 
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 
had him by the right shoulder, and yet with his left hand 
he wrenched his knife out of his belt and twice stabbed it. 
The second stab went to the heart and the beast let go of 
him, stood a moment, and fell dead. Meanwhile, the dog 
had followed the other lion, which now, having abandoned 
the chase of the horse, and with the dog still at his heels, 
came trotting back to look for the man. Crippled though 
he was, the hunter managed to climb a small tree; and 
though the lion might have gotten him out of it, the dog 
interfered. Whenever the lion came toward the tree the 
dog worried him, and kept him off until, at the shouts and 
torches of the approaching Kaffir boys, he sullenly retired, 
and the hunter was rescued. 
Percival had a narrow escape from a lion, which nearly 
got him, though probably under a misunderstanding. He 
was riding through a wet spot of ground, where the grass 
was four feet high, when his horse suddenly burst into a 
run and the next moment a lion had galloped almost along¬ 
side of him. Probably the lion thought it was a zebra, for 
when Percival, leaning over, yelled in his face, the lion 
stopped short. But he at once came on again, and nearly 
caught the horse. However, they were now out of the tall 
grass, and the lion gradually drew up when they reached 
the open country. 
The two Hills, Clifford and Harold, were running an 
ostrich-farm. The lions sometimes killed their ostriches 
and stock; and the Hills in return had killed several lions. 
The Hills were fine fellows; Africanders, as their fore¬ 
fathers for three generations had been, and frontiersmen of 
the best kind. From the first moment they and I became 
fast friends, for we instinctively understood one another. 
