Part 8 (1/2)

Here, as can be seen, is a great source of danger to a flurried or nervous beginner He does not want that lion to get an inch nearer; he fires at too long a range, misses, and is killed or mauled before he can reload This happened precisely so to two young friends of MacMillan

They were armed with double-rifles, let them off hastily as the beast started at theot another chance If they had possessed the experience to have waited until the lion had come within fifty yards they would have had the alh I have seen a lion missed clean well inside those limits

Frokilled by lions, and a number of others mauled As far as possible I tried to determine the facts of each case In every instance the trouble followed either foolishness or loss of nerve I believe I should be quite safe in saying that froood lion men-Tarleton, Lord Delamere, the Hills, and others-would have extricated themselves unharmed

This does not enerally because of flurried manipulation! One may unexpectedly meet the lion at too close quarters; a foot e prove defective So may one fall downstairs or buht and alertness and readiness would go far in either case to prevent bad results

The wounded beast, of course, offers theproblem to the lion hunter If it sees the hunter, it is likely to charge hi off, however, it is ood sense and nerve to get it out No rules can be given for this; nor aood lion hunter knows a lot more about it than I do But always a s: that a lion can hide in cover so short that it seeh a jack-rabbit would find scant conceal, and that he can spring about fifteen feet This spring, co unexpectedly from an unseen beast, is about impossible to avoid Sheer luck may land a fatal shot; but even then the lion will probably do his daood quick shot ought to be able to cope with

Therefore the wise hunter assures himself of at least twenty feet-preferablyit takes, he determines absolutely that the lion is not within that distance The rest is alertness and quickness

As I have said, the aly sly; and his tawny colour blends so ith the brown grasses that he is practically invisible A practised man does not, of course, look for lions at all He is after unusual small patches, especially the black ear tips or the black of theto see how quickly the hitherto unsuspected animal sketches itself out in the cover

I should, before passing on to another aspect of the erous poisons carried by the lion's claws Often rooves of the claws carry putrefying meat from the kills Every sensible e, and either peranate or carbolic And those reat and overwhele is of course with the hunter He possesses as deadly a weapon: and that weapon will kill at a distance

This is proper, I think There are more lions than hunters; and, from our point of view, the a sheer accident, a ht provided he does accurately the right thing

In other words, it is a dangerous gaer of a forest in a hurricane, say Furtherame that no o about his business-daytih he were ho the case,one of my own small ethical ideas at this point, with the full realization that it depends upon an entirely personal point of view As far as oes, I consider it poor sportsmanshi+p ever to refuse a lion-chance es are not all inis on a different plane froe to war, a deliberate seeking for mortal combat Is it not just a little shae, in the open, near his kill, and wherever we have hie-nine tie is for once not so marked? I have so often heard the phrase, ”I let hi that the game looked a little risky

Do notthat you bull ahead into the long grass, or that alone you open fire on a half dozen lions in easy range Kind providence endowed you with strategy, and certainly you should never go in where there is no show for you to use your weapon effectively But occasionally the odds will be against you and you will be called upon to take more or less of a chance I do not think it is quite square to quit playing merely because for once your opponent has been dealt the better cards If here are too rass is long, try every et them out Stay with them If finally you fail, you will at least have the satisfaction of knowing that circumstances alone have defeated you If you do not like that sort of a game, stay out of it entirely

XII MORE LIONS

Nor do the last re chapter mean that you shall not have your trophy in peace Perhaps excite to survive do not appeal to you; but nevertheless you would like a lion skin or so By all means shoot one lion, or two, or three in the safest fashi+on you can But after that you ought to play the gaet a lion is to kill a zebra, cut holes in hi This method is absolutely safe

The next safest way is to follow the quarry with a pack of especially trained dogs The lion is so busy and nervous over those dogs that you can walk up and shoot hi and following, the joy of a grand and noisy row, and the fun of seeing a good dog-fight The sas, hyenas, jackals-or jack-rabbits The objection is that it wastes a noble beast in an inferior game My personal opinion is that no e animal that can be captured with reasonable certainty without the is another matter; but that is quite the same in essence whatever the size of the quarry If you want to kill a lion or so quite safely, and at the saallop with lots of acco row, by allkilled one or two by that o on and clean up the country You can do it Poison and hounds are the SUREany lion there may be about; and AFTER THE FIRST FEW, one is about as justifiable as the other If you want the undoubtedly great joy of cross country pursuit, send your hounds in after less noble ga a lion is nocturnal You lay out a kill beneath a tree, and cli or donkey as live bait When the lion comes to this free lunch, you try to see him; and, if you succeed in that, you try to shoot hiht; nor is it easy to see in the dark Furthermore, lions only occasionally bother to cohts before you get a chance Once up, you have to stay up; for it is o hohlands is quite chilly Branches see and abrasive under the equator as in the temperate zones

Still, it is one method

Another is to lay out a kill and visit it in the early enerally search out your beast in nearby cover, and can easily find any amount of excitement in the process

The fourth way is to ride the lion The hunter sees his quarry returning home across the plains, perhaps; or jumps it from some small bushy ravine At once he spurs his horse in pursuit The lion will run but a short distance before co either of wind or of patience Froes The astute hunter, still , which he does in a very short time, the hunter faces about At last the lion sits down in the grass, waiting for the game to develop This is the time for the hunter to dismount and to take his shot Quite likely he ets to him

This is real fun It has in with, the hunter at this gaenerally has companions to back hiet it to stand The charging lion is quite apt to noring the hunter afoot As the gaely played in the open, the movements of the beast are easily followed

On the other hand, there is room for mistake The hunter, for example, should never follow directly in the rear of his lion, but rather at a parallel course off the beast's flank Then, if the lion stops suddenly, the man does not overrun before he can check his mount He should never dismount nearer than a hundred and fifty yards froet off while the lion is allop is not conducive to the best of shooting It is difficult to hold the front bead steady; and it is still es, until he has colect in the inevitable excitement of the moment to remember these and a dozen other small matters ether can aer and battle to make it worth while The hunter, however, who employs a dozen Sooes to the front, has eliminated much of the thrill Nor need that man's stay-at-ho Lions in Africa