The next day was Kermit’s red-letter day. 
We were each out until after dark; I 
merely got some of the ordinary game, tak¬ 
ing the skins for the naturalists, the flesh 
for our following; he killed two cheetahs, 
and a fine maned lion, finer than any 
previously killed. There were three chee¬ 
tahs together. Kermit, who was with Tarl- 
ton, galloped the big male, and, although 
it had a mile’s start, ran into it in three 
miles, and shot it as it lay under a bush. 
He afterward shot another, a female, who 
was lying on a stone koppie. Neither made 
any attempt to charge; the male had been 
eating a tommy. The lion was with a 
lioness, which wheeled to one side, as the 
horsemen galloped after her maned mate. 
He turned to bay after a run of less than a 
mile, and started to charge from a distance 
of two hundred yards; but Kermit’s first 
bullets mortally wounded him and crippled 
him so that he could not come at any pace 
and was easily stopped before covering half 
the distance. Although nearly a foot longer 
than the biggest of the lions I had already 
killed, he was so gaunt—whereas they were 
very fat—that he weighed but little more, 
only four hundred and twelve pounds. 
271 
