532 
African Game Trails 
own severe wounds, crawled over and shot 
the great beast as it lay on his friend. 
Most of the settlers with whom I was 
hunting had met with various, ad ventures 
in connection with lions. Sir Alfred had 
shot many in different parts of Africa; some 
had charged fiercely, but he always stopped 
them. Captain Slatter had killed a big male 
with a mane a few months previously. He 
was hunting it in company with Mr. Hum¬ 
phrey, the District Commissioner of whom 
I have already spoken, and it gave them 
some exciting moments, for when hit it 
charged savagely. Humphrey had a shot¬ 
gun loaded with buckshot, Slatter his rifle. 
When wounded, the lion charged straight 
home, hit Slatter, knocking him- flat and 
rolling him over and over in the sand, and 
then went after the native gun-bearer, 
who was running away—the worst possible 
course to follow with a charging lion. The 
mechanism of Slatter’s rifle was choked by 
the sand, and as he rose to his feet he saw 
the lion overtake the fleeing man, rise on his 
hind legs like a rearing horse—not spring¬ 
ing—and strike down the fugitive. Hum¬ 
phrey fired into him with buckshot, which 
merely went through the skin; and some 
minutes elapsed before Slatter was able to 
get his rifle in shape to kill the lion, which, 
fortunately, had begun to feel the effect of 
his wounds, and was too sick to resume hos¬ 
tilities of its own accord. The gun-bearer 
was badly but not fatally injured. Before 
this, Slatter, while on a lion-hunt, had been 
set afoot by one of the animals he was after, 
which had killed his horse. It was at night 
and the horse was tethered within six yards 
of his sleeping master. The latter was 
aroused by the horse galloping off, and he 
heard it staggering on for some sixty yards 
before it fell. He and his friend followed it 
with lanterns and drove off the lion, but the 
horse was dead. The tracks and the marks 
on the horse showed what had happened. 
The lion had sprung clean on the horse’s 
back, his fore claws dug into the horse’s 
shoulders, his hind claws cutting into its 
haunches, while the great fangs bit at the 
neck. The horse struggled off at a heavy 
run, carrying its fearsome burden. After 
going some sixty yards the lion’s teeth went 
through the spinal cord, and the ride was 
over. Neither animal had made a sound, 
and the lion’s feet did not touch the earth 
until the horse fell. 
While a magistrate in the Transvaal, 
Pease had under him ^s game officer a 
Boer hunter, a fine fellow, who underwent 
an extraordinary experience. He had been 
off some distance with his Kaffir boys, to 
hunt a lion. On his way home the hunter 
was hunted. It was after nightfall. He 
had reached a region where lions had not 
been seen for a long time, and where an 
attack by them was unknown. He was 
riding along a trail in the darkness, his 
big boarhound trotting ahead, his native 
“boys” some distance behind. He heard 
a rustle in the bushes alongside the path, 
but paid no heed, thinking it was a reed- 
buck. Immediately afterward two lions 
came out in the path behind and raced after 
him. One sprang on him, tore him out of 
the saddle, and trotted off holding him 
in its mouth, while the other continued 
after the frightened horse. The lion had 
him by the right shoulder, and yet with his 
left hand he wrenched his knife out of his 
belt and twice stabbed it. The second stab 
went to the heart and the beast let go of 
him, stood a moment, and fell dead. Mean¬ 
while, the dog had followed the other lion, 
which now, having abandoned the chase of 
the horse, and with the dog still at his heels, 
came trotting back to look for the man. 
Crippled though he was, the hunter man¬ 
aged to climb a small tree; and though the 
lion might have gotten him out of it, the 
dog interfered. Whenever the lion came 
toward the tree the dog worried him, and 
kept him off until, at the shouts and torches 
of the approaching Kaffir boys, he sullenly 
retired, and the hunter was rescued. 
Percival had a narrow escape from a lion, 
which nearly got him, though probably 
under a misunderstanding. He was riding 
through a wet spot of ground, where the 
grass was four feet high, when his horse 
burst suddenly into a run and the next mo¬ 
ment a Hon had galloped almost alongside 
of him. Probably the lion thought it was 
a zebra, for when Percival, leaning over, 
yelled in his face, the Hon stopped short. 
But he at once came on again, and nearly 
caught the horse. However, they were now 
out of the tall grass, and the Hon gradually 
drew up when they reached the open 
country. 
The two Hills, Clifford and Harold, were 
running an ostrich farm. The Hons some¬ 
times killed their ostriches and stock; and 
