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. Having reloaded, I took one of my Reilly No.
10 rifles and listened attentively for a sound. Presently I heard
within a few yards a low growl. Taher Noor drew his sword, and,
with his shield before him, he searched for the lion, while I
crept forward towards the sound, which was again repeated. A low
roar, accompanied by a rush in the jungle, showed us a glimpse of
the lion, as he bounded off within ten or twelve yards: but I had
no chance to fire. Again the low growl was repeated, and upon
quietly creeping towards the spot, I saw a splendid animal
crouched upon the ground among the withered and broken grass. The
lioness lay dying with the bullet wound in the shoulder.
Occasionally, in her rage, she bit her own paw violently, and
then struck and clawed the ground. A pool of blood lay by her
side. She was about ten yards from us, and I instructed my men to
throw a clod of earth at her (there were no stones), to prove
whether she could rise, while I stood ready with the rifle. She
merely replied with a dull roar, and I terminated her misery by
a ball through the head. She was a beautiful animal; the patch of
the bullet was sticking in the wound; she was shot through both
shoulders, and as we were not far from the tent, I determined to
have her brought to camp upon a camel as an offering to my wife.
Accordingly I left my Tokrooris, while I went with Taher Noor to
fetch a camel.
On our road through the thick jungle, I was startled by a rush
close to me: for the moment I thought it was a lion, but almost
at the same instant I saw a fine nellut dashing away before me,
and I killed it immediately with a bullet through the back of the
neck. This was great luck, and we now required two camels, as in
two shots I had killed a lioness and a nellut (A. Strepsiceros).
We remained for some time at our delightful camp at Delladilla.
Every day, from sunrise to sunset, I was either on foot or in the
saddle, without rest, except upon Sundays, which I generally
passed at home, with the relaxation of fishing in the beautiful
river Settite. There was an immense quantity of large game, and
I had made a mixed bag of elephants, hippopotami, buffaloes,
rhinoceros, giraffes, and great numbers of the large antelopes.
Lions, although numerous, were exceedingly difficult to bag;
there was no chance but the extreme risk of creeping through the
thickest jungle.
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