76 
LION-HUNTING 
[CH. Ill 
was with me ; Medlicott and Kermit were together. 
We placed ourselves, one couple on each side of a 
narrow neck, two-thirds of the way along the crest of 
the hill; and soon after we were in position we heard 
the distant shouts of the beaters as they came toward 
us, covering the crest and the tops of the slopes on both 
sides. It was rather disconcerting to find how much 
better Hill’s eyes were than mine. He saw everything 
first, and it usually took some time before he could 
make me see it. In this first drive nothing came my 
way except some mountain reedbuck does, at which 
I did not shoot. But a fine male cheetah came to 
Kermit, and he bowled it over in good style as it ran. 
Then the beaters halted, and waited before resuming 
their march until the guns had gone clear round and 
established themselves at the base of the farther end of 
the hill. This time Kermit, who was a couple of hundred 
yards from me, killed a reedbuck and a steinbuck. 
Suddenly Hill said 44 Lion !” and endeavoured to point it 
out to me as it crept cautiously among the rocks on the 
steep hillside a hundred and fifty yards away. At first 
I could not see it; finally I thought I did, and fired, 
but, as it proved, at a place just above him. However, 
it made him start up, and I immediately put the next 
bullet behind his shoulders. It was a fatal shot, but, 
growling, he struggled down the hill, and I fired again 
and killed him. It was not much of a trophy, however, 
turning out to be a half-grown male. 
We lunched under a tree, and then arranged for 
another beat. There was a long, wide valley, or rather 
a slight depression in the ground—-for it was only three 
or four feet below the general level—in which the grass 
grew tall, as the soil was quite wet. It was the scene 
of Percival’s adventure with the lion that chased him. 
