A Tale Of Three Lions Read Online Free PDF

down,
and darkness swallowed up the world, as the Kaffirs say, but no lions came to
swallow us up. We waited till dawn, because we did not dare to go to sleep,
and then at last with many bad thoughts in our hearts we took such rest as we
could get, and that was not much.
    “That morning we went out shooting, not because we wanted to, for we were
too depressed and tired, but because we had no more meat. For three hours or
more we wandered about in a broiling sun looking for something to kill, but
with absolutely no results. For some unknown reason the game had grown very
scarce about the spot, though when I was there two years before every sort of
large game except rhinoceros and elephant was particularly abundant. The
lions, of whom there were many, alone remained, and I fancy that it was the
fact of the game they live on having temporarily migrated which made them so
daring and ferocious. As a general rule a lion is an amiable animal enough if
he is left alone, but a hungry lion is almost as dangerous as a hungry man.
One hears a great many different opinions expressed as to whether or no the
lion is remarkable for his courage, but the result of my experience is that
very much depends upon the state of his stomach. A hungry lion will not stick
at a trifle, whereas a full one will flee at a very small rebuke.
    “Well, we hunted all about, and nothing could we see, not even a duiker or
a bush buck; and at last, thoroughly tired and out of temper, we started on
our way back to camp, passing over the brow of a steepish hill to do so. Just
as we climbed the crest of the ridge I came to a stand, for there, about six
hundred yards to my left, his beautiful curved horns outlined against the
soft blue of the sky, I saw a noble koodoo bull ( Strepsiceros kudu ).
Even at that distance, for as you know my eyes are very keen, I could
distinctly see the white stripes on its side when the light fell upon it, and
its large and pointed ears twitch as the flies worried it.
    “So far so good; but how were we to get at it? It was ridiculous to risk a
shot at that great distance, and yet both the ground and the wind lay very
ill for stalking. It seemed to me that the only chance would be to make a
detour of at least a mile or more, and come up on the other side of the
koodoo. I called Harry to my side, and explained to him what I thought would
be our best course, when suddenly, without any delay, the koodoo saved us
further trouble by suddenly starting off down the hill like a leaping rocket.
I do not know what had frightened it, certainly we had not. Perhaps a
hyæna or a leopard—a tiger as we call it there—had
suddenly appeared; at any rate, off it went, running slightly towards us, and
I never saw a buck go faster. I am afraid that forgetting Harry’s presence I
used strong language, and really there was some excuse. As for Harry, he
stood watching the beautiful animal’s course. Presently it vanished behind a
patch of bush, to emerge a few seconds later about five hundred paces from
us, on a stretch of comparatively level ground that was strewn with boulders.
On it went, clearing the boulders in its path with a succession of great
bounds that were beautiful to behold. As it did so, I happened to look round
at Harry, and perceived to my astonishment that he had got his rifle to his
shoulder.
    “‘You young donkey!’ I exclaimed, ‘surely you are not going to’—
and just at that moment the rifle went off.
    “And then I think I saw what was in its way one of the most wonderful
things I ever remember in my hunting experience. The koodoo was at the moment
in the air, clearing a pile of stones with its fore-legs tucked up underneath
it. All of an instant the legs stretched themselves out in a spasmodic
fashion, it lit on them, and they doubled up beneath it. Down went the noble
buck, down upon his head. For a moment he seemed to be standing on his horns,
his hind- legs high in the