, and the next those great white
teeth of his had met in my thigh--I heard them grate against the bone. I
yelled out in agony, for I did not feel in the least benumbed and happy,
like Dr. Livingstone--who, by the way, I knew very well--and gave myself
up for dead. But suddenly, as I did so, the lion's grip on my thigh
loosened, and he stood over me, swaying to and fro, his huge mouth, from
which the blood was gushing, wide open. Then he roared, and the sound
shook the rocks.

"To and fro he swung, and suddenly the great head dropped on me,
knocking all the breath from my body, and he was dead. My bullet had
entered in the centre of his chest and passed out on the right side of
the spine about half-way down the back.

"The pain of my wound kept me from fainting, and as soon as I got my
breath I managed to drag myself from under him. Thank heavens, his great
teeth had not crushed my thigh-bone; but I was losing a great deal of
blood, and had it not been for the timely arrival of Tom, with whose
aid I loosed the handkerchief from my wrist and tied it round my leg,
twisting it tight with a stick, I think that I should have bled to
death.

"Well, it was a just reward for my folly in trying to tackle a family
of lions single-handed. The odds were too long. I have been lame ever
since, and shall be to my dying day; in the month of March the wound
always troubles me a great deal, and every three years it breaks out
raw.

"I need scarcely add that I never traded the lot of ivory at Sikukuni's.
Another man got it--a German--and made five hundred pounds out of it
after paying expenses. I spent the month on the broad of my back, and
was a cripple for six months after that. And now I've told you the yarn,
so I will have a drop of Hollands and go to bed. Good-night to you all,
good-night!"

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