Accidents-Real Accidents, Not Merely Unexpected
Happenings-Are Hardly To Be Counted.
They can occur in your own
house.
But to the man not temperamentally qualified, lion shooting is
dangerous enough. The lion, when he takes the offensive, intends
to get his antagonist. Having made up his mind to that, he
charges home, generally at great speed. The realization that it
is the man's life or the beast's is disconcerting. Also the
charging lion is a spectacle much more awe-inspiring in reality
than the most vivid imagination can predict. He looks very large,
very determined, and has uttered certain rumbling, blood-curdling
threats as to what he is going to do about it. It suddenly seems
most undesirable to allow that lion to come any closer, not even
an inch! A hasty, nervous shot misses-
An unwounded lion charging from a distance is said to start
rather slowly, and to increase his pace only as he closes.
Personally I have never been charged by an unwounded beast, but I
can testify that the wounded animal comes very fast. Cuninghame
puts the rate at about seven seconds to the hundred yards.
Certainly I should say that a man charged from fifty yards or so
would have little chance for a second shot, provided he missed
the first. A hit seemed, in my experience, to the animal, by
sheer force of impact, long enough to permit me to throw in
another cartridge. A lioness thus took four frontal bullets
starting at about sixty yards.
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