400 
ROOSEVELT IN WILDS OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
sible Colonel Roosevelt took care that no wounded animal should 
escape to die in misery, and at times would follow such a victim for 
miles with the merciful purpose of satisfying himself that it died a 
painless death. 
On resuming their hunt down this donga better fortune awaited 
them. The stone throwing of the natives into a high bushy clump was 
followed by growls and a thrashing as if some large creature had been 
disturbed in its siesta. Then from its lair in the bushes, at a point 
about a hundred feet from the hunters, the tawny bulk of a lion broke 
into view. 
It was Roosevelt's first glimpse of this lordly creature in its native 
wilds and he could have been excused for some trepidation on seeing 
the monarch of the wilderness uncaged and so near at hand. He 
might even have been pardoned for missing the great brute. But no 
signs of loss of nerve appeared, the bullet sped true, and the lion gave 
a wild spring when the leaden messenger of death struck it. Two 
more shots were needed to fell the beast, one a miss, the second bring¬ 
ing him down with broken back. But the great brute was yet far 
from death, and three more shots by as many of the hunters were 
needed to give him the coup de grace . 
All this had taken place within a minute and the attention of the 
hunters was now given to a second lion which had broken from the 
same covert and was bounding with quick leaps across the plain. 
Instant pursuit was given, Roosevelt on foot with his black attendant. 
The lion, finding itself thus closely pursued, came to bay in a grassy 
hollow, where it stood in a threatening attitude as its pursuers came 
up. There were indications of a charge of the angered brute and, 
resting his gun on the black fellow's shoulder, Roosevelt toppled it 
over with a quick shot. But the fight was not taken out of the animal. 
Springing fiercely to its feet, it was on the point of making a fierce 
charge on its nearby foes when a second ball broke its back. A third 
reached a vital point and the animal fell over dead. 
Success had attended Roosevelt's first hunt. He had himself 
brought down two good-sized lions and shared with Kermit the honor 
of killing two cubs. These, the first fruits of their enterprise among 
carnivorous beasts, were quickly skinned by Mr. Heller and his aids, 
