"'Yes,' I said; 'but don't fire; they might all of them come for us.'

"Harry said nothing, but whether it was from the natural impetuosity
of youth, or because he was thrown off his balance by excitement, or
from sheer recklessness and devilment, I am sure I cannot tell you,
never having been able to get a satisfactory explanation from him; but
at any rate the fact remains, he, without word or warning, entirely
disregarding my exhortations, lifted up his Westley Richards and fired
at the black-maned lion, and, what is more, hit it slightly on the
flank.

"Next second there was a most awful roar from the injured lion. He
glared around him and roared with pain, for he was badly stung; and
then, before I could make up my mind what to do, the great black-maned
brute, clearly ignorant of the cause of his hurt, sprang right at the
throat of his companion, to whom he evidently attributed his
misfortune. It was a curious sight to see the astonishment of the
other lion at this most unprovoked assault. Over he rolled with an
angry snarl, and on to him sprang the black-maned demon, and began to
worry him. This finally awoke the yellow-maned lion to a sense of the
situation, and I am bound to say that he rose to it in a most
effective manner. Somehow or other he got to his feet, and, roaring
and snarling frightfully, closed with his mighty foe.

"Then ensued a most tremendous scene. You know what a shocking thing
it is to see two large dogs fighting with abandonment. Well, a whole
hundred of dogs could not have looked half so terrible as those two
great brutes as they rolled and roared and rent in their horrid rage.
They gripped each other, they tore at each other's throat, till their
manes came out in handfuls, and the red blood streamed down their