hen I trod out the
grass I could not find him.

"At last I worked up to the head of the kloof, which made a
_cul-de-sac_. It was formed of a wall of rock about fifty feet high.
Down this rock trickled a little waterfall, and in front of it, some
seventy feet from its face, was a great piled-up mass of boulders, in
the crevices and on the top of which grew ferns, grasses, and stunted
bushes. This mass was about twenty-five feet high. The sides of the
kloof here were also very steep. Well, I came to the top of the nullah
and looked all round. No signs of the lion. Evidently I had either
overlooked him further down, or he had escaped right away. It was very
vexatious; but still three lions were not a bad bag for one gun before
dinner, and I was fain to be content. Accordingly I departed back again,
making my way round the isolated pillar of boulders, beginning to feel,
as I did so, that I was pretty well done up with excitement and fatigue,
and should be more so before I had skinned those three lions. When I had
got, as nearly as I could judge, about eighteen yards past the pillar or
mass of boulders, I turned to have another look round. I have a pretty
sharp eye, but I could see nothing at all.

"Then, on a sudden, I saw something sufficiently alarming. On the top
of the mass of boulders, opposite to me, standing out clear against
the rocks beyond, was the huge black-maned lion. He had been crouching
there, and now arose as though by magic. There he stood lashing his
tail, just like a living reproduction of the animal on the gateway of
Northumberland House that I have seen in a picture. But he did not stand
long. Before I could fire--before I could do more than get the gun to my
shoulder--he sprang straight up and out from the rock, and driven by the
impetus of that one mighty bound came hurtling through the air towards
me.

"Heavens! how grand he looked, and how awful! High into the air he flew,
describing a great arch. Just as he touched the highest point of his
spring I fired. I did not dare to wait, for I saw that he would clear
the whole space and land right upon me. Without a sight, almost without
aim, I fired, as one would fire a snap shot at a snipe. The bullet told,
for I distinctly heard its thud above the rushing sound caused by the
passage of the lion through the air. Next second I was swept to the
ground (luckily I fell into a low, creeper-clad bush, which broke the
shock) and the lion was on the top of me