e reared up against the sky and clawed the air on
feeling the lead. For a second or two he gave me the impression that he
was about to charge; but luckily he changed his mind and followed his
companion, who had so far escaped scot free. I immediately mounted
"Blazeaway" and galloped off in hot pursuit, and after about half a
mile of very stiff going got up with them once more. Finding now that
they could not get away, they halted; came to bay and then charged down
upon me, the wounded lion leading. I had left my rifle behind, so all I
could do was to turn and fly as fast as "Blazeaway" could go, praying
inwardly the while that he would not put his foot into a hole. When the
lions saw that they were unable to overtake me, they gave up the chase
and lay down again, the wounded one being about two hundred yards in
front of the other. At once I pulled up too, and then went back a
little way, keeping a careful eye upon them; and I continued these
tactics of riding up and down at a respectful distance until Spooner
came up with the rifles, when we renewed the attack.

As a first measure I thought it advisable to disable the unhurt lion if
possible, and, still using the .303, I got him with the second shot at
a range of about three hundred yards. He seemed badly hit, for he
sprang into the air and apparently fell heavily. I then exchanged my
.303 for Spooner's spare 12-bore rifle, and we turned our attention to
the nearer lion, who all this time had been lying perfectly still,
watching our movements closely, and evidently just waiting to be down
upon us the moment we came within charging distance. He was never given
this opportunity, however, for we did not approach nearer than ninety
yards, when Spooner sat down comfortably and knocked him over quite
dead with one shot from his .577, the bullet entering the left shoulder
obliquely and passing through the heart.

It was now dusk, and there was no time to be lost if we meant to bag
the second lion as well. We therefore resumed our cautious advance,
moving to the right, as we went, so as to get behind us what light
there was remaining. The lion of course twisted round in the grass in
such a way as always to keep facing us, and looked very ferocious, so
that I was convinced that unless he were entirely disabled by the first
shot he would be down on us like a whirlwind. All the same, I felt
confident that, even in this event, one of us would succeed in stopping
him before he coul