, 1888-12-20


l pery necessary rrecaution, since II where
me sheep can jump another can follow, as
he Kafirs say, how much more is this tho
,asa where an animal 50 active and 50 vigor-
J,ts Is the lion IS concerned, And now came
Inc further question, Epsv we're we to bcguils
.hs IioneSS to return, Lions are animals that
nave u strange knacls of appearing when they
ire not wanted, and keeping studiously ont
4 the way when their presence IS required.
Harry, who, rs l have said, was an enli-
lently practical boy, suggested to Pharaoh
that he should 20 and sit oatside the skerm IN
The moonlight rs 4 sort of bait, assuring him
that he would have nothing to- fear, as We
would certainly Kill the liOneSs before she
killed him. Pharaoh. however, strangely
enough, did not seem to take 20 this suggestion.
Indeed, he walked awuy. much put out with
Harry for having made it.
1T gave me an idea, however.
"'Wel.' l said, there Is that OK. He must
die sooner or later, So We may rs well utilize
him
Now, about thirty yards to the left of our
sleTm. If one stool fGcing down the hill to-
ward the river, VIZ the stump of n tree that
had been destroyed by Lightning many years
before, standing e4Uidistantly between, but
a little in front of, two clumps of bush,
which were severalIy some fifteen PAGES
from it.
Here vas the very place to tie the OK; and
accordingly little before sunset the poor
animal was led forth by Pharaoh and made
fast there, little Knowing, poor brute, for
what purpose; and VIC commenced our long
vigil, this time without fire, for our object
was to attract the lioness and not to scare
her.
For hour after hour we waited, keeping
ourselves awake 10y Tinching each other-it
is, by the way, remarkable what Il difference
i'll the force OF pinches requisite to the occa-
sion exists in the mind of piIcher and
no liouesS came. The moon
waxed and the moon VyaEci, and then at last
the moon went down, and darkness swal-
lowed up the world, but 10 lion came to
swallow us up We waitci till dawn, because
we did not dare to so TO sleep, ard then at
last we took such rest - We could get
--InAL morning We Went out shooting, not
because we wanted to, for VIC were too do
pressed and tired but because we had no
more meat. For three hours or more We
wandered about i'll broiling sun looking
for something TO Kill, but absolutely with no
results For some unknown reason the
garne had grown very scarce about tho spot,
though when Was there two years before
and elephant was particularly abundant.
The lions, of whom there TcTe many, alone
and fancy i. was the fact of the
game they live on having temporarily mi
grated that made them 20 daring and fero-
cious As general rule q lion is an nmiable
animal enough if he IS let alone, but q
hungry lion is almost Us dangerous GS n
hungry man. One hears great many diff
ferent opinions expressed rs to whether or
no tho lion is remarkable for his courage,
bus the result OF my experience il that very
much depends upon tho state of his stomach.
A hungry lion viii noo stick ut q tribe,
whereas full one viii Ace ut very small
rcbuke
"Wcll, we hunted illl about and nothing
could we sec not even duck or u bush buck,
and ut last, thoroughly tired and out Of tenn.
per, VIC started on our way back to camp,
passing over the brow of L steepish hill to do
so. Just as We got over tie ridge l froze up
Ike pointer dog, for there, about COO yards
to my left, his beautiful curved horns out
lined against the aoft blue OF the SKY, ssiw
O noble EoOdoo bull (StrCE Er7irrTos kudu). Even
ut that distance-for, O. you know, my eyes
arc very keen-I could distinctly see the white
stripes upon its side when the light fell upon
il and its large and pointed ears twitch as tbs
Hies worried it.
$50 far so good; but how were we to gea
at It'll It was ridiculous to risk shot at thai
great distance, and yet both the ground
and the wind lay very i'll for stalking. 1t
seemed TO me that the only chance would
be TO make q detour OF ut least q milo or
more and corIe up on the other side Of the
koodoo. l called Harry to my side and OK
med 10 him what thought would be our
course, when suddenly, without any
~, the koodoo saved us any further
-'uble by suddenly starting OIL down the
i like leaping rocket, | don't know whzs
III frightened it; certainly we had not.
,'crhaps q hyena or q leopard-a tiger as we
III it there-hsd sudder;y appeared; at any
ate of it went, running slightly toward u.
and / never saw buck go faster. As fot
Harry, he stood watching the beautiful att
mails course. Presently it vanished behind q
patch Of bush, TO emerge a few seconds ln'er
about 500 PAGES from Us, On O stretch of "jrIi-
paratively level ground that was strewp With
powders. On it went. taking the bo'VlIers
IN its path in succession of great bounds
that were beautiful to behold. As i. did SO l
happened to look round at Harry, nd per-
ceived to my astonishment that Sc had got
his rife 10 his shoulder.
"'You foolish boyr l cjacUlsted, surely
you arc not going tO'-and just at that mo-
ment the rife went off.
And then ! think / saw what was, in its
way, one of the most wonderful things / ever
remember in my hunting experience. The
koodOo WIS at the moment in the air, clearing
pile Of stones with its fore legs tucked up
underneath it. All in an instant the legs
stretched themselves out in spasmodic
fashion, and il lit on them and they doubled
up beneath it Down went the noble buck,
down on to its head. For Il moment it seemed
TO be standing on its horns, its hind legs high
in tho air, and then over it went and lay still.
"'Great heavensn said, why, you've hit
himl He's dead
LAS for Harry, he said nothing, but
merely looked scared, as well he might. A
man, let alone a boy, might hive fred n
thousand such shots without ever touching
the object, which, miad you, was springing
and bounding over rocks quito 500 yards
away, and here this lad, taking O snnp shot
and merely allowing for elevation by in
stinet, for he did not put up his sights, had
knocked the bull over as dead as door nail.
Well, made no further remark-the occa-
NON was too solemn for talking-but merely
led the way TO where tho koodoo lay. There
he was, beautiful and quite still, and there,
uSA up aOOuI Hull way uONn MS neck, was
neat, round hole. The bullet had severed
the spinal marrow, passing right through
the vertebrae and away on the other side.
'it was already evening when, having cut
ss much Of the best meat as we could carry
from the bull, and tied red handkerchief
and some tufts of grass to his spiral horns,
which, by the way, must have been nearly
five feet in length, in the hope Of keeping
iackals and aasvogels tvultures) from him,
We finally got back to camp to find Pharaoh,
who was getting rather anxious at our alb
sence, ready to greet us with the pleasing in
telligence that another OK was sick But
even this dreadful bit OF intelligence could
not dash Harry's spirits, the fact of the mat
ter being that, incredible rs it may appear,
I do verify believe that in his heart of hearts
he set down the death of that koodoo to the
credit OF his own skin Now, though the lad
was tidy shot enough, this of course was
and told him SO very plainly.
"By the time that we had finished our sup
per OF koodoo steaks (which would have been
better if the koo4oo had been r lits!e yaun.er)
it was time to get ready for ji=lJim's nur-
deres again. All tie afternoon Pharaoh