African Game Trails 
537 
this, the lion suddenly halted and came to 
bay in a slight hollow, where the grass was 
rather long. The plain seemed flat, and 
we could see the lion well from horseback; 
but, especially when he lay down, it was 
most difficult to make him out on foot, and 
impossible to do so when kneeling. 
We were about a hundred and fifty yards 
from the lion, Sir Alfred, Kermit, Medli- 
cott, and Miss Pease off to one side, and 
slightly above him on the slope, while I was 
on the level, nearly equidistant from him 
and them. Kermit and I tried shooting 
from the horses; but at such a distance this 
was not effective. Then Kermit got off, 
but his horse would not let him shoot; and 
when I got off I could not make out the 
animal through the grass with sufficient 
distinctness to enable me to take aim. Old 
Ben the dog had arrived, and, barking 
loudly, was strolling about near the lion; 
which paid him not the slightest attention. 
At this moment my black sais, Simba, 
came running up to me and took hold of 
the bridle; he had seen the chase from the 
line of march and had cut across to join 
me. There was no other sais or gun-bearer 
anywhere near, and his action was plucky, 
for he was the only man afoot, with the lion 
at bay. Lady Pease had also ridden up 
and was an interested spectator only some 
fifty yards behind me. 
Now, an elderly man with a varied past 
which includes rheumatism does not vault 
lightly into the saddle; as his sons, for in¬ 
stance, can; and I had already made up my 
mind that in the event of the lion’s charging 
it would be wise for me to trust to straight 
powder rather than to try to scramble into 
the saddle and get under way in time. The 
arrival of my two companions settled mat¬ 
ters. I was not sure of the speed of Lady 
Pease’s horse; and Simba was on foot 
and it was or course out of the’question 
for me to leave him. So I said, “ Good, 
Simba, how we’ll see this thing through,” 
and gentle-mannered Simba smiled a shy 
appreciation of my tone, though he could 
not understand the words. I could still not 
see the lion when I knelt, but he was now 
standing up, looking first at one group of 
horses and then at the other, his tail lashing 
J:o and fro, his head held low, and his lips 
dropped over his mouth in peculiar fashion, 
while his harsh and savage growling rolled 
thunderously over the plain. Seeing Simba 
Vol. XLVL— 62 
and me on foot, he turned toward us, his 
tail lashing quicker and quicker. Resting 
my elbow on Simba’s bent shoulder, I took 
steady aim and pressed the trigger; the 
bullet went in between the neck and shoul¬ 
der, and the lion fell over on his side, one 
foreleg in the air. He recovered in a mo¬ 
ment and stood up, evidently very sick, 
and once more faced me, growling hoarsely. 
I think he was on the eve of charging. I 
fired again at once, and this bullet broke his 
back just behind the shoulders; and with 
the next I killed him outright, after we had 
gathered round him. 
These were two good-sized maneless 
lions; and very proud of them I was. I 
think Sir Alfred was at least as proud, es¬ 
pecially because we had performed the feat 
alone, without any professional hunters 
being present. “We were all amateurs, 
only gentleman riders up,” said Sir Alfred. 
It was late before we got the lions skinned. 
Then we set off toward the ranch, two 
porters carrying each lion skin, strapped to 
a pole; and two others carrying the cub 
skins. Night fell long before we were near 
the ranch; but the brilliant tropic moon 
lighted the trail. The stalwart savages 
who carried the bloody lion skins swung 
along at a faster walk as the sun went down 
and the moon rose higher; and they began 
to chant in unison,, one uttering a single 
word or sentence, and the others joining 
in a deep-toned, musical chorus. The men 
on a safari, and indeed African natives gen¬ 
erally, are always excited over the death of 
a lion, and the hunting tribes then chant 
their rough hunting songs, or victory songs, 
until the monotonous, rhythmical repeti¬ 
tions make them grow almost frenzied. 
The ride home through the moonlight, the 
vast barren landscape shining like silver on 
either hand, was one to be remembered; 
and above all, the sight of our trophies and 
of their wild bearers. 
Three days later we had another success¬ 
ful lion hunt. Our camp was pitched at a 
water hole in a little stream called Potha, 
by a hill of the same name. Pease, Medli- 
cott, and both the Hills were with us, and 
Heller came too; for he liked, when pos¬ 
sible, to be with the hunters so that he 
could at once care for any beast that was 
shot. As the safari was stationary, we took 
fifty or sixty porters as beaters. It was 
thirteen hours before we got into camp 
