As A
Souvenir Of This Very Curious Shot, I Preserved The Skull.
My men
now flayed the buffalo and took a portion of the meat, but I
ordered them to leave the carcase as a bait for lions, with which
this neighbourhood abounded, although it was exceedingly
difficult to see them, as they were concealed in the dense covert
of nabbuk bush.
I left the buffalo, and strolled through the
jungle towards the river. As I was leisurely walking through
alternate narrow glades and thick jungle, I heard a noise that
sounded like the deep snort of the hippopotamus. I approached the
steep bank of the river, and crept carefully to the edge,
expecting to see the hippo as I peered over the brink. Instead of
the hippopotamus, a fine lion and lioness were lying on the sand
about sixty yards to my left, at the foot of the bank. At the
same instant they obtained our wind, and sprang up the high bank
into the thick jungle, without giving me a better chance than a
quick shot through a bush as they were disappearing.
I now returned home, determined to circumvent the lions if
possible in this very difficult country. That night we were
serenaded by the roaring of these animals in all directions, one
of them having visited our camp, around which we discovered his
footprints on the following morning. I accordingly took Taher
Noor, with Hadji Ali and Hassan, two of my trusty Tokrooris, and
went straight to the spot where I had left the carcase of the
buffalo. As I had expected, nothing remained--not even a bone:
the ground was much trampled, and tracks of lions were upon the
sand; but the body of the buffalo had been dragged into the
thorny jungle. I was determined, if possible, to get a shot,
therefore I followed carefully the track left by the carcase,
which had formed a path in the withered grass. Unfortunately the
lions had dragged the buffalo down wind; therefore, after I had
arrived within the thick nabbuk and high grass, I came to the
conclusion that my only chance would be to make a long circuit,
and to creep up wind through the thorns, until I should be
advised by my nose of the position of the carcase, which would by
this time lie in a state of putrefaction, and the lions would
most probably be with the body. Accordingly, I struck off to my
left, and continuing straight forward for some hundred yards, I
again struck into the thick jungle, and came round to the wind.
Success depended on extreme caution, therefore I advised my three
men to keep close behind me with the spare rifles, as I carried
my single-barrelled Beattie. This rifle was extremely accurate,
therefore I had chosen it for this close work, when I expected to
get a shot at the eye or forehead of a lion crouching in the
bush. Softly and with difficulty I crept forward, followed
closely by my men; through the high withered grass, beneath the
dense green nabbuk bushes; peering through the thick covert, with
the nerves turned up to full pitch, and the finger on the trigger
ready for any emergency. We had thus advanced for about half an
hour, during which I frequently applied my nose to within a foot
of the ground to catch the scent, when a sudden puff of wind
brought the unmistakeable smell of decomposing flesh. For the
moment I halted, and, looking round to my men, I made a sign that
we were near to the carcase, and that they were to be ready with
the rifles. Again I crept gently forward, bending, and sometimes
crawling, beneath the thorns to avoid the slightest noise. As I
approached, the scent became stronger, until I at length felt
that I must be close to the cause. This was highly exciting.
Fully prepared for a quick shot, I stealthily crept on. A
tremendous roar in the dense thorns within a few feet of me
suddenly brought my rifle to the shoulder: almost in the same
instant I observed the three-quarter figure of either a lion or
a lioness within three yards of me, on the other side of the
bush, under which I had been creeping--the foliage concealed the
head, but I could almost have touched the shoulder with my rifle.
Much depended upon the bullet; and I fired exactly through the
shoulder. Another tremendous roar! and a crash in the bushes as
the animal made a bound forward, was succeeded immediately by a
similar roar, as another lion took the exact position of the
last, and stood wondering at the report of the rifle, and seeking
for the cause of the intrusion. This was a grand lion with a
shaggy mane; but I was unloaded, keeping my eyes fixed on the
beast, while I stretched my hand back for a spare rifle; the lion
remained standing, but gazing up wind with his head raised,
snuffing in the air for a scent of the enemy. No rifle was put in
my hand. I looked back for an instant, and saw my Tokrooris
faltering about five yards behind me. I looked daggers at them,
gnashing my teeth and shaking my fist. They saw the lion, and
Taher Noor snatching a rifle from Hadji Ali, was just about to
bring it, when Hassan, ashamed, ran forward--the lion disappeared
at the same moment! Never was such a fine chance lost through the
indecision of the gun-bearers! I made a vow never to carry a
single-barrelled rifle again when hunting large game. If I had
had my dear little Fletcher 24, I should have nailed the lion to
a certainty.
However, there was not much time for reflection--where was the
first lion? Some remains of the buffalo lay upon my right, and I
expected to find the lion most probably crouching in the thorns
somewhere near us.
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