The observer., 1900-01-13

following it leisurely untilwe reached
the CARCASS of the donkey. When we
reached the spot we were delighted to
discover that the lion had been there
shortly before our arrival, his great
tracks showing plainly in the tell-tale
sand. We followed these in hot haste,
and soon All excited exclamation from
the Zulu told me that the game was
close at hand: The spoor now led
towards dense th;cket Sf wait-a- bit
thorns, about two hundred yards in
diameter, which we approached with
extreme caution.
''Lion there, sure, sahib," whis-
pered Gan in Zulu, adding that I
should approach from the front, while
he went arouhd to the fear, to inter-
cept him in case he tried to pass
thfough As I approached the
thicket, with the hammer Of my gun
drawn, 1 could at first see nothing. I
was about to call to Gan when I sud-
denly made out the backs of two
large; yellow animals in the grass,
and a moment later discovered that
there were two cubs with them. They
were evidently disturbed, but were
gazing in the direction taken by Gan,
apparently not having noticed me.
A moment later fine lion sprang out
into the open, and seeing me less than
fifty PAGES away, gave d low growl
and disappeared into the thick brush.
The other; a lioness, stood looking
about, evidently reluctant to leave het
cubs. She was eyeing me closely,
and it required great deal of effort
to enable me to scrape up enough
courage to approach nearer. AS I did
SO, she turned and ran about ten feet
to thick clump Of grass; in which
she crouched so low I could only sed
her head.
A lions yellow eyes are singularly
impressive, especially if you happen
to be watching them some thirty yards
distant, with nothing but the open,
level ground between. They inclind
one to great deal of discretion, and
it was with extreme caution that ]
slowly approached her, her eyes fol
lowing my every movement and watchs
ing intently on my part for the first
sign of d coming charge. When 1 had
reached u point about fifteen yards
from her / concluded that I had bet:
ter open hostilities; and taking a very
careful aim at her head; between the
eye and the ear, I pressed the trigger.
With furious roar she sprand into
the air and seemed to fly back through
her lair. L quickly threw in another
cartridge and fired just as she disap.
peared into the bushes, and an instant
later ! heard the rear of Cans ele-
phant gun, followed by the snarlin5
of lion. I quickly ran around the
thicket, and arrived in sight of him
just as lie was in the act of discharg-
ing his second barrel into the very
mouth of the lion, which was charging
straight for him. AS he fired he
quickly jumped to one side, while the
lion turned complete somersault, but
regained it's feet in m instant and
stood wavering, evidently too sick to
attempt another charge, but growing
horribly. was about to fire at him
when he fell over on his side, and as
we approached nearer we could see
that he was in his last gasps, and be.
yond the possibility of doing harm.
A few convulsive struggles, last at.
tempt to gain his feet, and he was
dead.
After making sure that the lion wa.
done for, We retraced our steps to the
other side of the thicket. cautiously
approaching the place where I had
seen the lioness disappear. We had
not proceeded far when we came upon
her, stretched under thicket and
breathing her life out, so nearly done
for that she was unable to rise at oa1
approach. [ gave her q shot in the
head, and she settled back with a
shiver and lay still. For q moment
stood, lost in admiration of her grace.
full proportions, with the mighty mus
cles beneath her glossy skin, when
my attention was attracted to Gan,
who was trying to capture the cubs.
Although they were very young, not
much larger than kittens in fact, there
was much infantile growing and bit
ing and scratching before he was able
to make them prisoners. When he
had finally bundled one under each
arm we started for camp, as it was
fast getting dark. We met several oil
my men on the road back, whom ]
sent on to skin the lions, and arriv.
ing at camp we fastened the lion
whelps to the centre pole of my tent,
intending to keep them as souvenirs
of my trip; and very interesting they
proved during the remainder of our
long journey.-Field and Stream.
To Avoid Errors.