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The Land of Footprints-Part15_Stewart Edward White(1873-1946)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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are the SURE methods of finding any lion there may be about; and

AFTER THE FIRST FEW, one is about as justifiable as the other. If



you want the undoubtedly great joy of cross country pursuit, send

your hounds in after less noble game.



The third safe method of killing a lion is nocturnal. You lay out

a kill beneath a tree, and climb the tree. Or better, you hitch



out a pig or donkey as live bait. When the lion comes to this

free lunch, you try to see him; and, if you succeed in that, you



try to shoot him. It is not easy to shoot at night; nor is it

easy to see in the dark. Furthermore, lions only occasionally



bother to come to bait. You may roost up that tree many nights

before you get a chance. Once up, you have to stay up; for it is



most decidedly not safe to go home after dark. The tropical night

in the highlands is quite chilly. Branches seem to be quite as



cramping and abrasive under the equator as in the temperate

zones. Still, it is one method.



Another is to lay out a kill and visit it in the early morning.

There is more to this, for you are afoot, must generally search



out your beast in nearby cover, and can easily find any amount of

excitement in the process.



The fourth way is to ride the lion. The hunter sees his quarry

returning home across the plains, perhaps; or jumps it from some



small bushy ravine. At once he spurs his horse in pursuit. The

lion will run but a short distance before coming to a stop, for



he is not particularly long either of wind or of patience. From

this stand he almost invariablycharges. The astute hunter, still



mounted, turns and flees. When the lion gets tired of chasing,

which he does in a very short time, the hunter faces about. At



last the lion sits down in the grass, waiting for the game to

develop. This is the time for the hunter to dismount and to take



his shot. Quite likely he must now stand a charge afoot, and drop

his beast before it gets to him.



This is real fun. It has many elements of safety, and many of

danger.



To begin with, the hunter at this game generally has companions

to back him: often he employs mounted Somalis to round the lion



up and get it to stand. The charging lion is quite apt to make

for the conspicuous mounted men-who can easily escape-ignoring



the hunter afoot. As the game is largely played in the open, the

movements of the beast are easily followed.



On the other hand, there is room for mistake. The hunter, for

example, should never follow directly in the rear of his lion,



but rather at a parallel course off the beast's flank. Then, if

the lion stops suddenly, the man does not overrun before he can



check his mount. He should never dismount nearer than a hundred

and fifty yards from the embayed animal; and should never try to



get off while the lion is moving in his direction. Then, too, a

hard gallop is not conducive to the best of shooting. It is



difficult to hold the front bead steady; and it is still more

difficult to remember to wait, once the lion charges, until he



has come near enough for a sure shot. A neglect in the inevitable

excitement of the moment to remember these and a dozen other



small matters may quite possibly cause trouble.

Two or three men together can make this one of the most exciting



mounted games on earth; with enough of the give and take of real

danger and battle to make it worth while. The hunter, however,



who employs a dozen Somalis to ride the beast to a standstill,

after which he goes to the front, has eliminated much of the



thrill. Nor need that man's stay-at-home family feel any

excessive uneasiness over Father Killing Lions in Africa.



The method that interested me more than any other is one

exceedingly difficult to follow except under favourable



circumstances. I refer to tracking them down afoot. This requires

that your gunbearer should be an experttrailer, for, outside



the fact that following a soft-padded animal over all sorts of

ground is a very difficult thing to do, the hunter should be free



to spy ahead. It is necessary also to possess much patience and

to endure under many disappointments. But on the other hand there



is in this sport a continuous keen thrill to be enjoyed in no

other; and he who single handed tracks down and kills his lion






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