The Involuntary Start
Which I Could Not Help Giving Was Immediately
Answered By A Sinister Growl From Below.
After this I again kept as still as I could,
though absolutely trembling with excitement; and
in a short while I heard the lion begin to creep
stealthily towards me.
I could barely make out
his form as he crouched among the whitish undergrowth;
but I saw enough for my purpose, and
before he could come any nearer, I took careful
aim and pulled the trigger. The sound of the
shot was at once followed by a most terrific roar,
and then I could hear him leaping about in all
directions. I was no longer able to see him,
however, as his first bound had taken him into
the thick bush; but to make assurance doubly
sure, I kept blazing away in the direction in which
I heard him plunging about. At length came a
series of mighty groans, gradually subsiding into
deep sighs, and finally ceasing altogether; and I
felt convinced that one of the "devils" who
had so long harried us would trouble us no more.
As soon as I ceased firing, a tumult of inquiring
voices was borne across the dark jungle from the
men in camp about a quarter of a mile away.
I shouted back that I was safe and sound, and
that one of the lions was dead: whereupon such a
mighty cheer went up from all the camps as
must have astonished the denizens of the jungle
for miles around.
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