A Tale Of Three Lions (4 page)

“Harry, who as I have said was an eminently practical boy, suggested to
Pharaoh that he should go and sit outside the skerm in the moonlight as a
sort of bait, assuring him that he would have nothing to fear, as we should
certainly kill the lioness before she killed him. Pharaoh however, strangely
enough, did not seem to take to this suggestion. Indeed, he walked away, much
put out with Harry for having made it.

“It gave me an idea, however.

“‘By Jove!’ I said, ‘there is the sick ox. He must die sooner or later, so
we may as well utilize him.’

“Now, about thirty yards to the left of our skerm, as one stood facing
down the hill towards the river, was the stump of a tree that had been
destroyed by lightning many years before, standing equidistant between, but a
little in front of, two clumps of bush, which were severally some fifteen
paces from it.

“Here was the very place to tie the ox; and accordingly a little before
sunset the sick animal was led forth by Pharaoh and made fast there, little
knowing, poor brute, for what purpose; and we began our long vigil, this time
without a fire, for our object was to attract the lioness and not to scare
her.

“For hour after hour we waited, keeping ourselves awake by pinching each
other—it is, by the way, remarkable what a difference of opinion as
to the force of pinches requisite to the occasion exists in the mind of
pincher and pinched—but no lioness came. At last the moon went 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 air, and then over he rolled and lay still.

“‘Great Heavens!’ I said, ‘why, you’ve hit him! He’s dead.’

“As for Harry, he said nothing, but merely looked scared, as well he
might, for such a marvellous, I may say such an appalling and ghastly fluke
it has never been my lot to witness. A man, let alone a boy, might have fired
a thousand such shots without ever touching the object; which, mind you, was
springing and bounding over rocks quite five hundred yards away; and here
this lad—taking a snap shot, and merely allowing for speed and
elevation by instinct, for he did not put up his sights—had knocked
the bull over as dead as a door-nail. Well, I made no further remark, as the
occasion was too solemn for talking, but merely led the way to where the
koodoo had fallen. There he lay, beautiful and quite still; and there, high
up, about half-way down his neck, was a neat round hole. The bullet had
severed the spinal marrow, passing through the vertebræ and away on the
other side.

“It was already evening when, having cut as much of the best meat as we
could carry from the bull, and tied a red handkerchief and some tufts of
grass to his spiral horns, which, by the way, must have been nearly five feet
in length, in the hope of keeping the jackals and aasvögels (vultures)
from him, we finally got back to camp, to find Pharaoh, who was getting
rather anxious at our absence, ready to greet us with the pleasing
intelligence that another ox was sick. But even this dreadful bit of
intelligence could not dash Harry’s spirits; the fact of the matter being,
incredible as it may appear, I do verily believe that in his heart of hearts
he set down the death of the koodoo to the credit of his own skill. Now,
though the lad was a pretty shot enough, this of course was ridiculous, and I
told him so plainly.

“By the time that we had finished our supper of koodoo steaks (which would
have been better if the koodoo had been a little younger), it was time to get
ready for Jim-Jim’s murderess. Accordingly we determined again to expose the
unfortunate sick ox, that was now absolutely on its last legs, being indeed
scarcely able to stand. All the afternoon Pharaoh told us it had been walking
round and round in a circle as cattle in the last stage of redwater generally
do. Now it had come to a standstill, and was swaying to and fro with its head
hanging down. So we tied him up to the stump of the tree as on the previous
night, knowing that if the lioness did not kill him he would be dead by
morning. Indeed I was afraid that he would die at once, in which case he
would be of but little use as a bait, for the lion is a sportsmanlike animal,
and unless he is very hungry generally prefers to kill his own dinner, though
when that is once killed he will come back to it again and again.

“Then we again went through our experience of the previous night, sitting
there hour after hour, till at last Harry fell fast asleep, and, though I am
accustomed to this sort of thing, even I could scarcely keep my eyes open.
Indeed I was just dropping off, when suddenly Pharaoh gave me a push.

”’
Listen!
‘ he whispered.

“I was awake in a second, and listening with all my ears. From the clump
of bush to the right of the lightning-shattered stump to which the sick ox
was tied came a faint crackling noise. Presently it was repeated. Something
was moving there, faintly and quietly enough, but still moving perceptibly,
for in the intense stillness of the night any sound seemed loud.

“I woke up Harry, who instantly said, ‘Where is she? where is she?’ and
began to point his rifle about in a fashion that was more dangerous to us and
the oxen than to any possible lioness.

“‘Be quiet!’ I whispered, savagely; and as I did so, with a low and
hideous growl a flash of yellow light sped out of the clump of bush, past the
ox, and into the corresponding clump upon the other side. The poor sick
creature gave a sort of groan, staggered round and then began to tremble. I
could see it do so clearly in the moonlight, which was now very bright, and I
felt a brute for having exposed the unfortunate animal to such agony as he
must undoubtedly be undergoing. The lioness, for it was she, passed so
quickly that we could not even distinguish her movements, much less fire.
Indeed at night it is absolutely useless to attempt to shoot unless the
object is very close and standing perfectly still, and then the light is so
deceptive and it is so difficult to see the foresight that the best shot will
miss more often than he hits.

“‘She will be back again presently,’ I said; ‘look out, but for Heaven’s
sake don’t fire unless I tell you to.’

“Hardly were the words out of my mouth when back she came, and again
passed the ox without striking him.

“‘What on earth is she doing?’ whispered Harry.

“‘Playing with it as a cat does with a mouse, I suppose. She will kill it
presently.’

“As I spoke, the lioness once more flashed out of the bush, and this time
sprang right over the doomed and trembling ox. It was a beautiful sight to
see her clear him in the bright moonlight, as though it were a trick which
she had been taught.

“‘I believe that she has escaped from a circus,’ whispered Harry; ‘it’s
jolly to see her jump.’

“I said nothing, but I thought to myself that if it was, Master Harry did
not quite appreciate the performance, and small blame to him. At any rate,
his teeth were chattering a little.

“Then came a longish pause, and I began to think that the lioness must
have gone away, when suddenly she appeared again, and with one mighty bound
landed right on to the ox, and struck it a frightful blow with her paw.

“Down it went, and lay on the ground kicking feebly. She put down her
wicked-looking head, and, with a fierce growl of contentment, buried her long
white teeth in the throat of the dying animal. When she lifted her muzzle
again it was all stained with blood. She stood facing us obliquely, licking
her bloody chops and making a sort of purring noise.

“‘Now’s our time,’ I whispered, ‘fire when I do.’

“I got on to her as well as I could, but Harry, instead of waiting for me
as I told him, fired before I did, and that of course hurried me. But when
the smoke cleared, I was delighted to see that the lioness was rolling about
on the ground behind the body of the ox, which covered her in such a fashion,
however, that we could not shoot again to make an end of her.

“‘She’s done for! she’s dead, the yellow devil!’ yelled Pharaoh in
exultation; and at that very moment the lioness, with a sort of convulsive
rush, half-rolled, half-sprang, into the patch of thick bush to the right. I
fired after her as she went, but so far as I could see without result; indeed
the probability is that I missed her clean. At any rate she got to the bush
in safety, and once there, began to make such a diabolical noise as I never
heard before. She would whine and shriek with pain, and then burst out into
perfect volleys of roaring that shook the whole place.

“‘Well,’ I said, ‘we must just let her roar; to go into that bush after
her at night would be madness.’

“At that moment, to my astonishment and alarm, there came an answering
roar from the direction of the river, and then another from behind the swell
of bush. Evidently there were more lions about. The wounded lioness redoubled
her efforts, with the object, I suppose, of summoning the others to her
assistance. At any rate they came, and quickly too, for within five minutes,
peeping through the bushes of our skerm fence, we saw a magnificent lion
bounding along towards us, through the tall tambouki grass, that in the
moonlight looked for all the world like ripening corn. On he came in great
leaps, and a glorious sight it was to see him. When within fifty yards or so,
he stood still in an open space and roared. The lioness roared too; then
there came a third roar, and another great black-maned lion stalked
majestically up, and joined number two, till really I began to realize what
the ox must have undergone.

“‘Now, Harry,’ I whispered, ‘whatever you do don’t fire, it’s too risky.
If they let us be, let them be.’

“Well, the pair marched off to the bush, where the wounded lioness was now
roaring double tides, and the three of them began to snarl and grumble away
together there. Presently, however, the lioness ceased roaring, and the two
lions came out again, the black-maned one first—to prospect, I
suppose—walked to where the carcass of the ox lay, and sniffed at
it.

“‘Oh, what a shot!’ whispered Harry, who was trembling with
excitement.

“‘Yes,’ I said; ‘but don’t fire; they might all of them come for us.’