The lions, of whom there were many, alone
remained, and I fancy that it was the fact of the game they live on
having temporarily migrated which made them so daring and ferocious. As
a general rule a lion is an amiable animal enough if he is left alone,
but a hungry lion is almost as dangerous as a hungry man. One hears a
great many different opinions expressed as to whether or no the lion is
remarkable for his courage, but the result of my experience is that very
much depends upon the state of his stomach. A hungry lion will not stick
at a trifle, whereas a full one will flee at a very small rebuke.

"Well, we hunted all about, and nothing could we see, not even a duiker
or a bush buck; and at last, thoroughly tired and out of temper, we
started on our way back to camp, passing over the brow of a steepish
hill to do so. Just as we climbed the crest of the ridge I came to a
stand, for there, about six hundred yards to my left, his beautiful
curved horns outlined against the soft blue of the sky, I saw a noble
koodoo bull (_Strepsiceros kudu_). Even at that distance, for as you
know my eyes are very keen, I could distinctly see the white stripes
on its side when the light fell upon it, and its large and pointed ears
twitch as the flies worried it.

"So far so good; but how were we to get at it? It was ridiculous to risk
a shot at that great distance, and yet both the ground and the wind lay
very ill for stalking. It seemed to me that the only chance would be to
make a detour of at least a mile or more, and come up on the other side
of the koodoo. I called Harry to my side, and explained to him what I
thought would be our best course, when suddenly, without any delay, the
koodoo saved us further trouble by suddenly starting off down the hill
like a leaping rocket. I do not know what had frightened it, certainly
we had not. Perhaps a hyaena or a leopard--a tiger as we call it
there--had suddenly appeared; at any rate, off it went, running
slightly towards us, and I never saw a buck go faster. I am afraid that
forgetting Harry's presence I used strong language, and really there
was some excuse. As for Harry, he stood watching the beautiful animal's
course. Presently it vanished behind a patch of bush, to emerge a
few seconds later about five hundred paces from us, on a stretch of
comparatively level ground that was strewn with boulders. On it went,
clearing the boulders in its path with a succession of great bounds
that we