A BIG-MANED LION 
189 
CH. VIIl] 
where two days before I had shot the lioness. I killed 
a big bustard, a very handsome, striking-looking bird, 
larger than a turkey, by a rather good shot at two 
hundred and thirty yards. 
It was now mid-day, and the heat waves quivered 
above the brown plain. The mirage hung in the 
middle distance, and beyond it the bold hills rose like 
mountains from a lake. In mid-afternoon we stopped 
at a little pool, to give the men and horses water; and 
here Kermit’s horse suddenly went dead lame, and we 
started it back to camp with a couple of men, while 
Kermit went forward with us on foot, as we rode round 
the base of the first koppies. After we had gone a 
mile loud shouts called our attention to one of the men 
who had left with the lame horse. He was running 
back to tell us that they had just seen a big-maned lion 
walking along in the open plain toward the body of a 
zebra he had killed the night before. Immediately 
Tarlton and I galloped in the direction indicated, while 
the heart-broken Kermit ran after us on foot, so as not 
to miss the fun, the gun-bearers and saises stringing 
out behind 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 cantering, did not take 
us two miles. 
The lion stopped and lay down behind a bush. Jump¬ 
ing 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 
