unfriendly lion in a space about as big as the upper berth of a
sleeping-car.

My first boma was a meshwork of thorns piled and interwoven together
with the architectural simplicity of an Eskimo igloo. When it was
finished there didn't seem to be the ghost of a chance of a lion getting
in; but at night, as I looked out, it seemed frail indeed. Some dry
grass was piled inside, with blankets spread over it to prevent
rustling; and when night came we three, myself and two gunbearers,
wormed our way in and then pulled some pieces of brush into the opening
after us. The rifles were sighted on the bait while it was still
daylight and at a spot where the expected lion might appear. Then we
waited.

The customary nocturne by birds, beasts and insects began before long,
and several times hyenas and jackals came to the bait, but no lions. The
boma was on the edge of a great swamp, miles in extent and a great
rendezvous for game of many kinds. Theoretically, there couldn't be a
better place to expect lions, but nary a lion appeared that night.

Upon a later occasion--Christmas night, it was--I watched from a boma
near an elephant we had killed, but except for the distant grunting of
lions, there was nothing important to chronicle.

Lion hunting goes by luck. One man may sit in a boma night after night
without getting a shot, while another may go out once and bring back a
black-mane. I spent two nights in a boma without seeing a lion;
Stephenson spent seven nights and saw only a lioness. He held his fire
in the expectation that the male was with her and would soon appear.
Presently a huge beast appeared, vague in the dark shadows; he thought
it was the male lion, shot, and the next morning found a large dead
hyena.

Mrs. Akeley went out only once, had a night of thrilling experiences,
and killed a large male lion. The lion appeared early in the evening and
her first shot just grazed the backbone. An inch higher and it would
have missed, but as it was, the mere grazing of the backbone paralyzed
the animal, preventing its escape. All night long it crouched helplessly
before them, twelve yards away, insane with rage and fury. Its roars
were terrifying. A number of times she shot, but in the darkness none of
the many hits reached a vital spot. Once in the night two other lions
came, but escaped after being fired at.

As soon as daylight appeared and she could see the sights of her rifle
she easily killed the lion. It was the la