356 
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 
show the gleam of the long fangs. He faced first one way 
and then another, and never ceased to utter his murderous 
grunting roars. It was a wild sight; the ring of spearmen, 
intent, silent, bent on blood, and in the centre the great 
man-killing beast, his thunderous wrath growing ever 
more dangerous. 
At last the tense ring was complete, and the spearmen 
rose and closed in. The lion looked quickly from side 
to side, saw where the line was thinnest, and charged at 
his topmost speed. The crowded moment began. With 
shields held steady, and quivering spears poised, the men 
in front braced themselves for the rush and the shock; and 
from either hand the warriors sprang forward to take their 
foe in flank. Bounding ahead of his fellows, the leader 
reached throwing distance; the long spear flickered and 
plunged; as the lion felt the wound he half turned, and 
then flung himself on the man in front. The warrior threw 
his spear; it drove deep into the life, for entering at one 
shoulder it came out of the opposite flank, near the thigh, a 
yard of steel through the great body. Rearing, the lion 
struck the man, bearing down the shield, his back arched; 
and for a moment he slaked his fury with fang and talon. 
But on the instant I saw another spear driven clear through 
his body from side to side; and as the lion turned again 
the bright spear blades darting toward him were flashes 
of white flame. The end had come. He seized another 
man, who stabbed him and wrenched loose. As he fell he 
gripped a spear head in his jaws with such tremendous 
force that he bent it double. Then the warriors were 
round and over him, stabbing and shouting, wild with 
furious exultation. 
