I Fired Several Shots In His Direction,
But It Was Pitch Dark And Quite Impossible To
See Anything, So I Only Succeeded In Hitting One
Of The Goats.
I often longed for a flash-light on
such occasions.
Next morning I started off in pursuit and was
joined by some others from the camp. I found
that the trail of the goats and rail was easily
followed, and we soon came up, about a quarter
of a mile away, to where the lion was still busy
at his meal. He was concealed in some thick
bush and growled angrily on hearing our approach;
finally, as we got closer, he suddenly made a
charge, rushing through the bushes at a great
pace. In an instant, every man of the party
scrambled hastily up the nearest tree, with the
exception of one of my assistants, Mr. Winkler,
who stood steadily by me throughout. The
brute, however, did not press his charge home:
and on throwing stones into the bushes where
we had last seen him, we guessed by the silence
that he had slunk off. We therefore advanced
cautiously, and on getting up to the place
discovered that he had indeed escaped us, leaving
two off the goats scarcely touched.
Thinking that in all probability the lion would
return as usual to finish his meal, I had a very
strong scaffolding put up a few feet away from
the dead goats, and took up my position on it
before dark. On this occasion I brought my
gun-bearer, Mahina, to take a turn at watching,
as I was by this time worn out for want of sleep,
having spent so many nights on the look-out. I
was just dozing off comfortably when suddenly I
felt my arm seized, and on looking up saw
Mahina pointing in the direction of the goats.
"Sher!" ("Lion!") was all he whispered. I
grasped my double smooth-bore, which, I had
charged with slug, and waited patiently. In a
few moments I was rewarded, for as I watched
the spot where I expected the lion to appear,
there was a rustling among the bushes and I saw
him stealthily emerge into the open and pass
almost directly beneath us. I fired both barrels
practically together into his shoulder, and to
my joy could see him go down under the
force of the blow. Quickly I reached for
the magazine rifle, but before I could use it,
he was out of sight among the bushes, and I had
to fire after him quite at random. Nevertheless
I was confident of getting him in the morning,
and accordingly set out as soon as it was
light. For over a mile there was no difficulty
in following the blood-trail, and as he had
rested several times I felt sure that he had
been badly wounded. In the end, however, my
hunt proved fruitless, for after a time the traces
of blood ceased and the surface of the ground
became rocky, so that I was no longer able
to follow the spoor.
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