f to my left, and continuing straight
forward for some hundred yards, I again struck into the thick jungle and
came round to the wind. Success depended on extreme caution; therefore I
advised my three men to keep close behind me with the spare rifles, as I
carried my single-barrelled Beattie. This rifle was extremely accurate,
therefore I had chosen it for this close work, when I expected to get a
shot at the eye or forehead of a lion crouching in the bush.

Softly and with difficulty I crept forward, followed closely by my men,
through the high withered grass, beneath the dense green nabbuk bushes,
peering through the thick covert, with the nerves braced up to full
pitch, and the finger on the trigger ready for any emergency. We had
thus advanced for about half an hour, during which I frequently applied
my nose to within a foot of the ground to catch the scent, when a sudden
puff of wind brought the unmistakable smell of decomposing flesh. For
the moment I halted, and, looking round to my men, I made a sign that
we were near to the carcass, and that they were to be ready with the
rifles. Again I crept gently forward, bending and sometimes crawling
beneath the thorns to avoid the slightest noise. As I approached the
scent became stronger, until I at length felt that I must be close to
the cause.

This was highly exciting. Fully prepared for a quick shot, I stealthily
crept on. A tremendous roar in the dense thorns within a few feet of me
suddenly brought my rifle to the shoulder. Almost in the same instant I
observed the three-quarter figure of either a lion or a lioness within
three yards of me, on the other side of the bush under which I had
been creeping. The foliage concealed the head, but I could almost have
touched the shoulder with my rifle. Much depended upon the bullet, and I
fired exactly through the shoulder. Another tremendous roar! and a
crash in the bushes as the animal made a bound forward was succeeded
immediately by a similar roar, as another lion took the exact position
of the last, and stood wondering at the report of the rifle, and seeking
for the cause of the intrusion. This was a grand lion with a shaggy
mane; but my rifle was unloaded, and, keeping my eyes fixed on the
beast, I stretched my hand back for a spare rifle. The lion remained
standing, but gazing up wind with his head raised, snuffing in the air
for a scent of the enemy. No rifle was put in my hand. I looked back for
an instant, and sa