74 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch. 
bush, fully expecting to find the brute dead, so, 
listening for some moments and hearing no sounds, 
we cautiously entered the dense growth and began 
once more to follow up his spoor, which revealed 
that he had lost a considerable quantity of blood and 
appeared to be trailing one of his hind legs. 
We had not made more than thirty yards of wary 
progress, when Simba, who was following closely 
behind me, touched me on the shoulder and pointed 
to a spot to my left front. Straining my eyes for 
a few seconds, I could just discern the lion’s tawny 
form, crouching absolutely motionless about twelve 
yards away, his head between his paws, his eyes 
gleaming in the shade and gazing steadily in our 
direction. I raised my rifle quickly to my shoulder, 
but without giving me time to aim the brute charged 
me with a vicious snarl! I promptly fired, the 
bullet striking him on the right side of the head 
and smashing his shoulder. Unfortunately, with 
the exception of the first two cartridges that I had 
used, I had only brought solid bullets with me, and 
though my third shot knocked him down, he was 
up again in an instant and came on as quickly as 
ever. When within five yards of me, I gave him 
the contents of the second barrel, the bullet smash¬ 
ing through his jaw and missing his heart by a 
fraction. The impact brought him down and Simba, 
instantly raising his spear, drove it with all his 
