46 
THE NEW AFRICA 
close by, and roared terribly; and then I loaded my gun, but 
my Bushman said to me, “ Master, we must leave this lion, for 
she means to hurt us,” and I, knowing she would die by-and- 
by from the shot, agreed, and we turned and went back the 
way we came. We had not gone far, when the Bushman 
caught hold of me in warning, for I was not looking, and my 
heart was sore for my good dogs, and said, “Master, what is 
that in the path in front of us ? ” There she was, the devil, 
lying in the path some sixty yards off, and I was glad, because 
I did not like to leave her behind, for she had killed my dogs, 
and I thought: “ Jan, the lion challenges you because you have 
a weak heart, and turned away from her; but now she is 
there, no one shall say that Jan Africa ever turned from a 
challenge ! ” I fired and hit her through the left ear, making 
a bad shot, because she was lying flat like a snake on the 
ground, and I could not see her well. While she lay and 
growled loudly, I loaded my gun again with the last bullet, 
and, taking good aim, fired and cut her skin open down the 
back—and then she came! Masters, what is the good of 
standing to face a lion charging you, roaring with open 
mouth, when your gun is empty? “No good,” I say, so I 
turned and ran towards a tree, and the Bushman ran also. The 
next thing I know was that I was flying through the air, 
and landed, half stunned, on my stomach. When I came to, 
the lion was standing over me with her claws in my shoulder, 
there and there’—and he pulled off his shirt to show the 
wounds. After a pause he went on: ‘ I lay still and thought 
a while, and made up my mind to wrestle with her ; so 
I jerked myself round, and when she saw my face she 
tried to bite my throat, but I put my right arm into her 
mouth and she bit me—look where the teeth went through. 
Then I thought of my knife in its sheath under me, and I 
put my left arm in her mouth to free my right and to ease 
me a bit from the pain, and felt for my knife, but I could 
not grasp it well as my arm was too much bitten and my 
thumb was hanging by a sinew. Then I thought: “Put the 
