HUNTING IN THE SOTIK 
193 
ing the ground many yards short. I was sighting carefully, 
from my knee, and I knew I had the lion all right; for 
though he galloped at a great pace, he came on steadily— 
ears laid back, and uttering terrific coughing grunts—and 
there was now no question of making allowance for dis¬ 
tance, nor, as he was out in the open, for the fact that he 
had not before been distinctly visible. The bead of my 
foresight was exactly on the centre of his chest as I pressed 
the trigger, and the bullet went as true as if the place had 
been plotted with dividers. The blow brought him up all 
standing, and he fell forward on his head. The soft-nosed 
Winchester bullet had gone straight through the chest 
cavity, smashing the lungs and the big blood-vessels of the 
heart. Painfully he recovered his feet, and tried to come 
on, his ferocious courage holding out to the last; but he 
staggered, and turned from side to side, unable to stand 
firmly, still less to advance at a faster pace than a walk. 
He had not ten seconds to live; but it is a sound principle 
to take no chances with lions. Tarlton hit him with his 
second bullet, probably in the shoulder; and with my next 
shot I broke his neck. I had stopped him when he was 
still a hundred yards away; and certainly no finer sight 
could be imagined than that of this great maned lion as he 
charged. Kermit gleefully joined us as we walked up to 
the body; only one of our followers had been able to keep 
up with him on his two-miles run. He had had a fine view 
of the charge, from one side, as he ran up, still three hun¬ 
dred yards distant; he could see all the muscles play as the 
lion galloped in, and then everything relax as he fell to the 
shock of my bullet. 
The lion was a big old male, still in his prime. Between 
