The Men Were Afraid
To Attack Him, Perhaps On Account Of Their Belief In Witchcraft.
When The Circle Was Re-Formed, We Saw Two Other Lions In It;
But We Were Afraid To Fire Lest We Should Strike The Men,
And They Allowed The Beasts To Burst Through Also.
If the Bakatla had acted
according to the custom of the country, they would have speared the lions
in their attempt to get out.
Seeing we could not get them
to kill one of the lions, we bent our footsteps toward the village;
in going round the end of the hill, however, I saw one of the beasts
sitting on a piece of rock as before, but this time he had a little bush
in front. Being about thirty yards off, I took a good aim at his body
through the bush, and fired both barrels into it. The men then called out,
"He is shot, he is shot!" Others cried, "He has been shot by another man too;
let us go to him!" I did not see any one else shoot at him,
but I saw the lion's tail erected in anger behind the bush,
and, turning to the people, said, "Stop a little, till I load again."
When in the act of ramming down the bullets, I heard a shout. Starting,
and looking half round, I saw the lion just in the act of springing upon me.
I was upon a little height; he caught my shoulder as he sprang, and we both
came to the ground below together.
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