rail and all. I fired several shots in his
direction, but it was pitch dark and quite impossible to see anything,
so I only succeeded in hitting one of the goats. I often longed for a
flash-light on such occasions.

Next morning I started off in pursuit and was joined by some others
from the camp. I found that the trail of the goats and rail was easily
followed, and we soon came up, about a quarter of a mile away, to where
the lion was still busy at his meal. He was concealed in some thick
bush and growled angrily on hearing our approach; finally, as we got
closer, he suddenly made a charge, rushing through the bushes at a
great pace. In an instant, every man of the party scrambled hastily up
the nearest tree, with the exception of one of my assistants, Mr.
Winkler, who stood steadily by me throughout. The brute, however, did
not press his charge home: and on throwing stones into the bushes where
we had last seen him, we guessed by the silence that he had slunk off.
We therefore advanced cautiously, and on getting up to the place
discovered that he had indeed escaped us, leaving two off the goats
scarcely touched.

Thinking that in all probability the lion would return as usual to
finish his meal, I had a very strong scaffolding put up a few feet away
from the dead goats, and took up my position on it before dark. On this
occasion I brought my gun-bearer, Mahina, to take a turn at watching,
as I was by this time worn out for want of sleep, having spent so many
nights on the look-out. I was just dozing off comfortably when suddenly
I felt my arm seized, and on looking up saw Mahina pointing in the
direction of the goats. "Sher!" ("Lion!") was all he whispered. I
grasped my double smooth-bore, which, I had charged with slug, and
waited patiently. In a few moments I was rewarded, for as I watched the
spot where I expected the lion to appear, there was a rustling among
the bushes and I saw him stealthily emerge into the open and pass
almost directly beneath us. I fired both barrels practically together
into his shoulder, and to my joy could see him go down under the force
of the blow. Quickly I reached for the magazine rifle, but before I
could use it, he was out of sight among the bushes, and I had to fire
after him quite at random. Nevertheless I was confident of getting him
in the morning, and accordingly set out as soon as it was light. For
over a mile there was no difficulty in following the blood-trail, and
as he ha