I Walked
For Some Distance At First, Partly Because The
Ground Was Very Stony And Partly Because I
Thought A
Lion might suddenly bound out of
some likely patches in front of the beaters; but
after having gone about six
Miles in this way
without adventure of any kind, I decided to
mount again. At this time the beaters were in
line about a hundred yards behind me, shouting
and halloing with all their might as they advanced
through the scrub and undergrowth, while I rode
well to the flank so as to be ready for any
emergency. Just as the men got up to a rather
thicker piece of jungle than usual, I fancied I
saw a movement among the bushes and pulled
up suddenly to watch the spot, but did not
dismount. The next moment out bounded a lioness,
who raced straight across the open strip into the
next patch of jungle, quickly followed by another.
Throwing myself off my pony, I seized my rifle
to get a shot at the second lioness as she galloped
past, and was just about to pull the trigger, when
to my utter amazement out sprang a huge black-maned
lion, making all haste after his mates.
Before he could reach the further thicket,
however, I fired, and had the satisfaction of hearing
the deep growl that tells of a serious hit.
The beaters and I now advanced with great
care, taking advantage of every bit of cover and
keeping a sharp look-out for the wounded animal
as we crept from tree to tree. Fully a quarter
of an hour must have elapsed in this slow yet
exciting search, before one of the men, some fifty
or sixty yards to my left, and a little ahead of
the line, called out that he could see the lion
awaiting our approach, with his head just visible
in a large bed of rushes only a short distance
in front of where I then was. Almost at the
same moment I found blood marks left by the
wounded animal, leading apparently to a kind of
gap in the bank of the river, which had evidently
been worn down by a rhino going to and fro to
drink. I accordingly made for this with the
greatest caution, ordering all the men, except
Mahina, to remain behind; and as noiselessly
as possible I slipped from cover to cover in my
endeavour to obtain a peep over the bank. I
saw that it was no use to attempt to climb a
tree, as the overspreading foliage would have
prevented me from obtaining any view ahead; so
I continued my slow advance with a fast-beating
heart, not knowing where the huge brute was
and expecting every moment that he would
charge out at me over the bank from his reedy
refuge. Emboldened to a certain extent,
however, by the fact that up till then I had heard
no movement on the part of my enemy, I crept
steadily forward and at last, from the shelter
of a friendly tree behind the bole of which I
hid myself, I was able to look over the bank.
And there, not twenty yards from me, crouched
the lion - luckily watching, not me, but the native
who had first seen him and who had directed me
to where he was. I raised my rifle very cautiously,
without making the slightest sound, and
steadying the barrel against the trunk of the tree and
standing on tip-toe in order to get a better view,
I fired plump at the side of his head. It was
as if he had suddenly been hit with a
sledgehammer, for he fell over instantly and lay like a
log.
On my calling out that the lion was done for,
the beaters came running up shouting with joy;
and although I warned them to be careful, as
the two lionesses were probably still close at
hand, they did not seem to care in the slightest
and in a twinkling had the dead lion lifted from
the reeds on to the dry bank. Before I allowed
anything further to be done, however, I had the
patch of rushes thoroughly beaten out: but as
no traces of the lionesses could be found, we
commenced to skin my fine trophy. When this
was about half done, I decided to let Mahina
finish the operation, while I went on ahead to
try my luck either with more lions or with any
other game that might come my way. I
followed up the river almost to its source, but no
more lions crossed my path. Once indeed I
felt convinced that I saw one, and gave chase
to it with all my might as it rushed through
the long grass: but a nearer view showed me
nothing more than a huge wart-hog. As I
wanted the tusks, which I noticed were very fine
ones, I fired but only badly hipped him: so I
ran up as fast as I could and at ten yards
fired again. This time I missed him entirely,
and was puzzled to account for my failure until
I looked at my back sight and found that by
some accident it had got raised and that I had
the 200-yards sight up. On rectifying this,
another shot quickly put the wounded animal
out of pain.
Still my day's sport was not yet over. While
rambling back through the trees I caught sight
of a graceful-looking antelope in the distance,
and on cautiously approaching closer saw that
it was an impala. My stalk was crowned with
success, the beautiful animal being bagged
without much trouble; and on reaching my prize I
was delighted to find that its horns were much
above the average. On another occasion I was
fortunate enough to get a successful snapshot of
an impala just after it had been shot by a friend,
and the photograph gives a very good idea of
what mine was like.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 45 of 67
Words from 45299 to 46301
of 68125
