192 
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 
him. In a few minutes Tarlton pointed out the lion, a 
splendid old fellow, a heavy male with a yellow and black 
mane; and after him we went. There was no need to go 
fast; he was too burly and too savage to run hard, and we 
were anxious that our hands should be reasonably steady 
when we shot; all told, the horses, galloping and canter¬ 
ing, did not take us two miles. 
The lion stopped and lay down behind a bush; jumping 
off I took a shot at him at two hundred yards, but only 
wounded him slightly in one paw; and after a moment’s 
sullen hesitation off he went, lashing his tail. We mounted 
our horses and went after him; Tarlton lost sight of him, 
but I marked him lying down behind a low grassy ant-hilL 
Again we dismounted at a distance of two hundred yards; 
Tarlton telling me that now he was sure to charge. In all 
East Africa there is no man, not even Cuninghame him¬ 
self, whom I would rather have by me than Tarlton, if in 
difficulties with a charging lion; on this occasion, however, 
I am glad to say that his rifle was badly sighted, and shot 
altogether too low. 
Again I knelt and fired; but the mass of hair on the lion 
made me think he was nearer than he was, and I undershot, 
inflicting a flesh wound that was neither crippling nor 
fatal. He was already grunting savagely and tossing his 
tail erect, with his head held low; and at the shot the great 
sinewy beast came toward us with the speed of a greyhound. 
Tarlton then, very properly, fired, for lion hunting is no 
child’s play, and it is not good to run risks. Ordinarily it is 
a very mean thing to experience joy at a friend’s miss; 
but this was not an ordinary case, and I felt keen delight 
when the bullet from the badly sighted rifle missed, strik- 
