"Heavens! how grand he looked, and how awful! High into the air he flew,
describing a great arch. Just as he touched the highest point of his
spring I fired. I did not dare to wait, for I saw that he would clear
the whole space and land right upon me. Without a sight, almost without
aim, I fired, as one would fire a snap shot at a snipe. The bullet told,
for I distinctly heard its thud above the rushing sound caused by the
passage of the lion through the air. Next second I was swept to the
ground (luckily I fell into a low, creeper-clad bush, which broke the
shock) and the lion was on the top of me, and the next those great white
teeth of his had met in my thigh--I heard them grate against the bone. I
yelled out in agony, for I did not feel in the least benumbed and happy,
like Dr. Livingstone--who, by the way, I knew very well--and gave myself
up for dead. But suddenly, as I did so, the lion's grip on my thigh
loosened, and he stood over me, swaying to and fro, his huge mouth, from
which the blood was gushing, wide open. Then he roared, and the sound
shook the rocks.

"To and fro he swung, and suddenly the great head dropped on me,
knocking all the breath from my body, and he was dead. My bullet had
entered in the centre of his chest and passed out on the right side of
the spine about half-way down the back.

"The pain of my wound kept me from fainting, and as soon as I got my
breath I managed to drag myself from under him. Thank heavens, his great
teeth had not crushed my thigh-bone; but I was losing a great deal of
blood, and had it not been for the timely arrival of Tom, with whose
aid I loosed the handkerchief from my wrist and tied it round my leg,
twisting it tight with a stick, I think that I should have bled to
death.