rifle in my hands, and, grasping it, I tried to rise. But I could not
for the reason that a lion was standing over me. Then I lay still. The
screams of my gun-bearer told me that the lion had him. I was fond of
this fellow and wanted to save him. I thought it best, however, not to
move while the lion stood over me. Suddenly he stepped, and I felt poor
Luki's feet dragging across me. He screamed, 'Save me, master!' And
instinctively I grasped at him and caught his foot. The lion walked out
of the tent dragging me as I held to Luki's foot. The night was bright
moonlight. I could see the lion distinctly. He was a huge, black-maned
brute, and he held Luki by the shoulder. The poor lad kept screaming
frightfully. The man-eater must have dragged me forty yards before he
became aware of a double incumbrance to his progress. Then he halted
and turned. By Jove! he made a devilish fierce object with his shaggy,
massive head, his green-fire eyes, and his huge jaws holding Luki. I let
go of Luki's foot and bethought myself of the gun. But as I lay there on
my side, before attempting to rise, I made a horrible discovery. I did
not have my rifle at all. I had Luki's iron spear, which he always had
near him. My rifle had slipped out of the hollow of my arm, and when the
lion awakened me, in my confusion I picked up Luki's spear instead. The
bloody brute dropped Luki and uttered a roar that shook the ground. It
was then I felt frightened. For an instant I was almost paralyzed.
The lion meant to charge, and in one spring he could reach me. Under
circumstances like those a man can think many things in little time. I
knew to try to run would be fatal. I remembered how strangely lions had
been known to act upon occasion. One had been frightened by an umbrella;
one had been frightened by a blast from a cow-horn; another had been
frightened by a native who in running from one lion ran right at the
other which he had not seen. Accordingly, I wondered if I could frighten
the lion that meant to leap at me. Acting upon wild impulse, I prodded
him in the hind quarters with the spear. Ladies and gentlemen, I am a
blooming idiot if that lion did not cower like a whipped dog, put his
tail down, and begin to slink away. Quick to see my chance, I jumped
up yelling, and made after him, prodding him again. He let out a bellow
such as you could imagine would come from an outraged king of beasts.
I prodded again, and then he loped off. I found Luki not badly