was to be done in this horrible dilemma? I had not even a moment for
reflection; my piece was only charged with swan-shot, and I had no other
about me; however, though I could have no idea of killing such an animal
with that weak kind of ammunition, yet I had some hopes of frightening
him by the report, and perhaps of wounding him also. I immediately let
fly, without waiting till he was within reach, and the report did but
enrage him, for he now quickened his pace, and seemed to approach me
full speed: I attempted to escape, but that only added (if an addition
could be made) to my distress; for the moment I turned about, I found a
large crocodile, with his mouth extended almost ready to receive me. On
my right hand was the piece of water before mentioned, and on my left a
deep precipice, said to have, as I have since learned, a receptacle at
the bottom for venomous creatures; in short, I gave myself up as lost,
for the lion was now upon his hind legs, just in the act of seizing me;
I fell involuntarily to the ground with fear, and, as it afterwards
appeared, he sprang over me. I lay some time in a situation which no
language can describe, expecting to feel his teeth or talons in some
part of me every moment. After waiting in this prostrate situation a few
seconds I heard a violent but unusual noise, different from any sound
that had ever before assailed my ears; nor is it at all to be wondered
at, when I inform you from whence it proceeded: after listening for some
time I ventured to raise my head and look round, when, to my unspeakable
joy, I perceived the lion had, by the eagerness with which he sprung at
me, jumped forward as I fell, into the crocodile's mouth! which, as
before observed, was wide open; the head of the one stuck in the throat
of the other! and they were struggling to extricate themselves! I
fortunately recollected my hunting knife, which was by my side; with
this instrument I severed the lion's head at one blow, and the body fell
at my feet! I then, with the butt end of my fowling piece, rammed the
head farther into the throat of the crocodile, and destroyed him by
suffocation, for he could neither gorge nor eject it.

[Illustration: THE LION HAD JUMPED INTO THE CROCODILE'S MOUTH]

Soon after I had thus gained a complete victory over my two powerful
adversaries, my companion arrived in search of me; for finding I did not
follow him into the wood, he returned, apprehending I had lost my way,
or met wit