t his forehead, I pulled the trigger, and
instantly bolted behind the old horse. Before I could see what
happened, I waited a moment, expecting to hear the monster roar; but
there was no sound, except of creatures scampering away in the distance;
and when I looked to see where the lion was, there he lay dead. My
little bullet had struck him between the eyes, and killed him on the
spot I remember it all now as if it had just happened, and I think I
never was more alarmed than on that night."

"You were once carried off by a lion, were you not, Hans?" inquired the
last speaker.

"Yes, I was carried a hundred yards or more, and scarcely had my skin
broken. A lion is like a cat in that; he can hold a live creature in
his mouth, and not damage it, just as I have seen a cat carry a mouse,
and when it put the mouse down the little creature would run away just
as though it hadn't been touched."

"I heard you had been carried, Hans, but never heard all the story. How
was it?"

"I was out after porcupines, and was lying down one night near a
porcupine's hole, waiting for him to come out. I had no gun, but only
my hunting-knife and a large knob-kerrie, with which to knock the
porcupine on the nose; for that, as you know, kills him at once. I did
not hear a sound until I found the grass near me move, and a lion put
his paw on me, and holding me down by it, gripped my back and lifted me
up. The brute pressed his claws into me, but luckily my leather belt
prevented his teeth from damaging me, and he carried me by holding on to
my belt and coat. If either of these had given way, I should have soon
been laid hold of in a far more rough manner. I knew the nature of a
lion well enough to know that if I struggled I should have my neck
broken or my head smashed in an instant, so I did not struggle, but
quietly drew my knife, and thought what was best to do. I thought at
first of trying to stab him in the heart, but I could not reach that
part of him, and his skin looked so loose that I feared I could not
strike deep enough, carried as I was. I knew it would be life or death
with me in an instant, so turning myself a bit, I gashed the lion's
nose, and cut it through. The lion dropped me as I would drop a
poisonous snake, and jumped away roaring with pain. He stood for an
instant looking at me, but I did not move, and he did not seem to like
to carry me again. More than once he came up to within a few yards,
licking the bl