536 
African Game Trails 
This patch of tall, thick brush stood on 
the hither bank—that is, on our side of the 
watercourse. We rode up to it and shouted 
loudly. The response was immediate, in 
the shape of loud gruntings, and crashings 
through the thick brush. We were off our 
horses in an instant, I throwing the reins 
over the head of mine; and without delay, 
the good old fellow began placidly grazing, 
quite unmoved by the ominous sounds 
immediately in front. 
I sprang to one side; and for a second or 
it had merely been grazed, he might have 
recovered, and then, even though dying, his 
charge might have done mischief. So Ker- 
mit, Sir Alfred, and I fired, almost together, 
into his chest. His head sank, and he died. 
This lion had come out on the left of the 
bushes; the other, to the right of them, had 
not been hit, and we saw him galloping off 
across the plain, six or eight hundred yards 
away. A couple more shots missed, and 
we mounted our horses to try to ride him 
down. The plain sloped gently upward for 
two we waited uncertain whether we should 
see the lions charging out ten yards distant, 
or running away. Fortunately, they adopt¬ 
ed the latter course. Right in front of me, 
thirty yards off, there appeared, from be¬ 
hind the bushes which had first screened 
him from my eyes, the tawny, galloping 
form of a big maneless lion. Crack-! the 
Winchester spoke; and as the soft-nosed 
bullet ploughed forward through his flank 
the lion swerved so that I missed him with 
the second shot; but my third bullet went 
through the spine and forward into his 
chest. Down he came, sixty yards off, his 
hind quarters dragging, his head up, his ears 
back, his jaws open and lips drawn up in a 
prodigious snarl, as he endeavored to turn 
to face us. His back was broken; but of this 
we could not at the moment be sure, and if 
three-quarters of a mile to a low crest or di¬ 
vide, and long before we got near him he 
disappeared over this. Sir Alfred and Ker- 
mit were tearing along in front and to the 
right, and Miss Pease close behind; while 
Tranquillity carried me, as fast as he could, 
on the left, with Medlicott near me. On 
topping the divide Sir Alfred and Kermit 
missed the lion, which had swung to the left, 
and they raced ahead too far to the right. 
Medlicott and I, however, saw the lion, 
loping along close behind some kongoni; 
and this enabled me to get up to him 
as quickly as the lighter men on the faster 
horses. The going was now slightly down¬ 
hill, and the sorrel took me along very well, 
while Medlicott, whose horse was slow, 
bore to the right and joined the other two 
men. We gained rapidly, and, finding out 
