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.
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