And fired.
The lion made off, but a ball that he received OUGHT to have stopped him,
as it went clean through his shoulder-blade. He was followed up and killed,
after having charged several times. Both lions were males.
It is not often that one BAGS a brace of lions and a bull buffalo
in about ten minutes. It was an exciting adventure,
and I shall never forget it.'
"Such, my dear Livingstone, is the plain unvarnished account.
The buffalo had, of course, gone close to where the lions
were lying down for the day; and they, seeing him lame and bleeding,
thought the opportunity too good a one to be lost.
Ever yours,
Frank Vardon."
-
In general the lion seizes the animal he is attacking by the flank
near the hind leg, or by the throat below the jaw. It is questionable
whether he ever attempts to seize an animal by the withers.
The flank is the most common point of attack, and that is the part
he begins to feast on first. The natives and lions are very similar
in their tastes in the selection of tit-bits: an eland may be seen
disemboweled by a lion so completely that he scarcely seems cut up at all.
The bowels and fatty parts form a full meal for even the largest lion.
The jackal comes sniffing about, and sometimes suffers for his temerity
by a stroke from the lion's paw laying him dead.
