Every Now And
Then He Would Disappear From View For A Moment;
And It Was A Fascinating Sight To See How He
Slowly Raised His Massive Head Above The Top Of
The Grass Again And Gazed Calmly And Steadily
At Us As We Neared Him.
Unfortunately I could
not distinguish the outline of his body, hidden
as it was in the grassy thicket.
I therefore
circled cautiously round in order to see if the
cover was sufficiently thin at the back to make
a shoulder shot possible; but as we moved, the
lion also twisted round and so always kept his
head full on us. When I had described a
half-circle, I found that the grass was no thinner
and that my chances of a shot had not improved.
We were now within seventy yards of the
lion, who appeared to take the greater interest
in us the closer we approached. He had lost
the sleepy look with which he had at first
regarded us, and was now fully on the alert;
but still he did not give me the impression
that he meant to charge, and no doubt if we
had not provoked him, he would have allowed
us to depart in peace. I, however, was bent on
war, in spite of the risk which one must always
run by attacking a lion at such close quarters
on an open plain as flat as the palm of the hand;
so in a standing position I took careful aim at
his head, and fired. The distance was, as I
have said, a bare seventy yards; yet I must
confess to a disgraceful miss. More astonishing
still, the beast made not the slightest movement
- did not even blink an eye, so far as I could
see - but continued his steadfast, questioning gaze.
Again I took aim, this time for a spot below the
tip of his nose, and again I fired - with more
success, the lion turning a complete somersault
over his tail. I thought he was done for,
but he instantly sprang to his feet again, and
to my horror and astonishment was joined by
a lioness whose presence we had never even
thought of or suspected.
Worse was still to follow, for to our dismay
both made a most determined charge on us,
bounding along at a great pace and roaring angrily
as they came. Poor Mahina cried out, "Sahib,
do sher ata hai!" ("Master, two lions are
coming!"), but I told him to stand stock-still
and for his life not to make the slightest
movement. In the twinkling of an eye the two
beasts had covered about forty yards of the
distance towards us. As they did not show the
least sign of stopping, I thought we had given the
experiment of remaining absolutely motionless a
fair trial, and was just about to raise the rifle to
my shoulder as a last resort, when suddenly the
wounded lion stopped, staggered, and fell to the
ground. The lioness took a couple of bounds
nearer to us, and then to my unmeasured relief
turned to look round for her mate, who had by
this time managed to get to his feet again.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 77 of 130
Words from 40283 to 40816
of 68125
