NormalizeHEADmain

1 files changed, 0 insertions, 976 deletions

diff --git a/old/66915-0.txt b/old/66915-0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 69960f8..0000000
--- a/old/66915-0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,976 +0,0 @@
-The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Spring of a Lion, by H. Rider Haggard
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: The Spring of a Lion
-
-Author: H. Rider Haggard
-
-Release Date: December 9, 2021 [eBook #66915]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-Produced by: Al Haines
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPRING OF A LION ***
-
-
-
-
-
-
-  THE
-
-  SPRING OF A LION
-
-
-
-  BY
-
-  H. RIDER HAGGARD,
-
-
-  _Neely's Booklet Series.  No. 26, June 26, 1899.  Issued weekly
-  $5.00 a year.  Entered as second-class matter
-  at New York Post Office._
-
-
-
-  F. TENNYSON NEELY,
-  PUBLISHER,
-  LONDON.  NEW YORK.  CHICAGO.
-
-
-
-
-THE SPRING OF A LION.
-
-
-The story which is narrated in the following pages came to me from
-the lips of my old friend Allan Quatermain, or Hunter Quatermain, as
-we used to call him in South Africa.  He told it to me one evening
-when I was stopping with him at the place he bought in Yorkshire.
-Shortly after that, the death of his only son so unsettled him that
-he immediately left England, accompanied by two companions, who were
-old fellow-voyagers of his, Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good, and
-has now utterly vanished into the dark heart of Africa.  He is
-persuaded that a white people, of whom he has heard rumors all his
-life, exists somewhere on the highlands in the vast, still unexplored
-interior, and his great ambition is to find them before he dies.
-This is the wild quest upon which he and his companions have
-departed, and from which I shrewdly suspect they never will return.
-One letter only have I received from the old gentleman, dated from a
-mission station high up the Tana, a river on the east coast, about
-three hundred miles north of Zanzibar; in it he says they have gone
-through many hardships and adventures, but are alive and well, and
-have found traces which go far toward making him hope that the
-results of their wild quest may be a "magnificent and unexampled
-discovery."  I greatly fear, however, that all he has discovered is
-death; for this letter came a long while ago, and nobody has heard a
-single word of the party since.  They have totally vanished.
-
-It was on the last evening of my stay at his house that he told the
-ensuing story to me and Captain Good, who was dining with him.  He
-had eaten his dinner and drunk two or three glasses of old port, just
-to help Good and myself to the end of the second bottle.  It was an
-unusual thing for him to do, for he was a most abstemious man, having
-conceived, as he used to say, a great horror of drink from observing
-its effects upon the class of men--hunters, transport riders, and
-others--among whom he had passed so many years of his life.
-Consequently, the good wine took more effect on him than it would
-have done on most men, sending a little flush into his wrinkled
-cheeks, and making him talk more freely than usual.
-
-Dear old man!  I can see him now, as he went limping up and down the
-vestibule, with his gray hair sticking up in scrubbing-brush fashion,
-his shrivelled yellow face, and his large dark eyes, that were as
-keen as any hawk's and yet soft as a buck's.  The whole room was hung
-with trophies of his numerous hunting expeditions, and he had some
-story about every one of them, if only you could get him to tell
-them.  Generally he would not, for he was not very fond of narrating
-his own adventures, but to-night the port wine made him more
-communicative.
-
-"Ah, you brute!" he said, stopping beneath an unusually large skull
-of a lion, which was fixed just over the mantelpiece, beneath a long
-row of guns, its jaws distended to their utmost width.  "Ah, you
-brute! you have given me a lot of trouble for the last dozen years,
-and will, I suppose, to my dying day."
-
-"Tell us the yarn, Quatermain," said Good.  "You have often promised
-to tell me, and have not."
-
-"You had better not ask me to," he answered, "for it is a longish
-one."
-
-"All right," I said, "the evening is young, and there is some more
-port."
-
-Thus adjured, he filled his pipe from a jar of coarse-cut Boer
-tobacco that was always standing on the mantelpiece, and still
-walking up and down the room, began:
-
-"It was, I think, in the March of 1869 that I was up in Sikukuni's
-country.  It was just after old Sequati's time, and Sikukuni had got
-into power--I forget how.  Any way, I was there.  I had heard that
-the Bapedi people had got down an enormous quantity of ivory from the
-interior, and so I started with a wagon-load of goods, and came
-straight away from Middelburg to try and trade some of it.  It was a
-risky thing to go into the country so early, on account of the fever,
-but I knew that there were one or two others after that lot of ivory,
-so I determined to have a try for it, and take my chance of fever.  I
-had got so tough from continual knocking about that I did not set it
-down at much.  Well, I got on all right for awhile.  It is a
-wonderfully beautiful piece of bush veldt, with great ranges of
-mountains running through it, and round granite koppies starting up
-here and there, looking out like sentinels over the rolling waste of
-bush.  But it is very hot--hot as a stew-pan--and when I was there
-that March, which, of course, is autumn in that part of Africa, the
-whole place reeked of fever.  Every morning, as I trekked along down
-by the Oliphant River, I used to creep out of the wagon at dawn and
-look out.  But there was no river to be seen--only a long line of
-billows of what looked like the finest cotton wool tossed up lightly
-with a pitchfork.  It was the fever mist.  Out from among the scrub,
-too, came little spirals of vapor, as though there were hundreds of
-tiny fires alight in it--reek rising from thousands of tons of
-rotting vegetation.  It was a beautiful place, but the beauty was the
-beauty of death; and all those lines and blots of vapor wrote one
-great word cross the surface of the country, and that word was
-'fever.'
-
-"It was a dreadful year of illness, that.  I came, I remember, to one
-little kraal of Knobnoses, and went up to see if I could get some
-_maas_ (curdled buttermilk) and a few mealies.  As I got near, I was
-struck with the silence of the place.  No children began to chatter,
-and no dogs barked.  Nor could I see any native sheep or cattle.  The
-place, though it had evidently been recently inhabited, was as still
-as the bush round it, and some guinea fowl got up out of the prickly
-pear bushes right at the kraal gate.  I remember that I hesitated a
-little before going in, there was such an air of desolation about the
-spot.  Nature never looks desolate when man has not yet laid his hand
-upon her breast; she is only lonely.  But when man has been and has
-passed away, then she looks desolate.
-
-"Well, I passed into the kraal, and went up to the principal hut.  In
-front of the hut was something with an old sheepskin _kaross_ (rug)
-thrown over it.  I stooped down and threw off the rug, and then
-shrank back amazed, for under it was the body of a young woman,
-recently dead.  For a moment I thought of turning back, but my
-curiosity overcame me; so going past the woman, I went down on my
-hands and knees and crept into the hut.  It was so dark that I could
-not see anything, though I could smell a great deal--so I lit a
-match.  It was a 'tand-stickor' match, and burnt slowly and dimly,
-and as the light gradually increased I made out what I thought was a
-lot of people, men, women, and children, fast asleep.  Presently it
-burnt up brightly, and I saw that they, too, five of them altogether,
-were quite dead.  One was a baby.  I dropped the match in a hurry,
-and was making my way out of the hut as hard as I could go, when I
-caught sight of two bright eyes staring out of a corner.  Thinking it
-was a wildcat or some such animal, I redoubled my haste, when
-suddenly a voice near the eyes began first to mutter, and then to
-send up a succession of awful yells.  Hastily I lit another match,
-and perceived that the eyes belonged to an old woman, wrapped up in a
-greasy leather garment.  Taking her by the arm, I dragged her out,
-for she could not, or would not, come by herself, and the stench was
-overpowering me.  Such a sight as she was--a bag of bones, covered
-over with black, shrivelled parchment.  The only white thing about
-her was her wool, and she seemed to be pretty well dead except for
-her eyes and her voice.  She thought that I was a devil come to take
-her, and that is why she yelled so.  Well, I got her down to the
-wagon, and gave her a "tot" of Cape smoke, and then, as soon as it
-was ready, poured about a pint of beef-tea down her throat, made from
-the flesh of a blue vilderbeeste I had killed the day before, and
-after that she brightened up wonderfully.  She could talk
-Zulu--indeed, it turned out that she had run away from Zululand in
-T'Chaka's time--and she told me that all the people that I had seen
-had died of fever.  When they had died, the other inhabitants of the
-kraal had taken the cattle and gone away, leaving the poor old woman,
-who was helpless from age and infirmity, to perish of starvation or
-disease, as the case might be.  She had been sitting there for three
-days among the bodies when I found her.  I took her on to the next
-kraal, and gave the headman a blanket to look after her, promising
-him another if I found her well when I came back.  I remember that he
-was much astonished at my parting with two blankets for the sake of
-such a worthless old creature.  'Why did I not leave her in the
-bush?' he asked.  Those people carry the doctrine of the survival of
-the fittest to its extreme, you see.
-
-"It was the night after I had got rid of the old woman that I made my
-first acquaintance with my friend yonder," and he nodded toward the
-skull that seemed to be grinning down at us in the shadow of the wide
-mantelshelf.  "I had trekked from dawn till eleven o'clock--a long
-trek--but I wanted to get on; and then had the oxen turned out to
-graze, sending the voorlooper to look after them, meaning to inspan
-again about six o'clock, and trek with the moon till ten.  Then I got
-into the wagon and had a good sleep till half-past two or so in the
-afternoon, when I got up and cooked some meat, and had my dinner,
-washing it down with a pannikin of black coffee--for it was difficult
-to get preserved milk in those days.  Just as I had finished, and the
-driver, a man called Tom, was washing up the things, in comes the
-young scoundrel of a voorlooper driving one ox before him.
-
-"'Where are the other oxen?' I asked.
-
-"'Koos!' he said, 'Koos! (chief), the other oxen have gone away.  I
-turned my back for a minute, and when I looked round again, they were
-all gone except Kaptein here, who was rubbing his back against a
-tree.'
-
-"'You mean that you have been asleep, and let them stray, you
-villain.  I will rub your back against a stick,' I answered, feeling
-very angry, for it was not a pleasant prospect to be stuck up in that
-fever trap for a week or so while we were hunting for the oxen.  'Off
-you go, and you too, Tom, and mind you don't come back till you have
-found them.  They have trekked back along the Middelburg Road, and
-are a dozen miles off by now, I'll be bound.  Now, no words; go, both
-of you.'
-
-"Tom, the driver, swore and caught the lad a hearty kick, which he
-richly deserved, and then, having tied old Kaptein up to the
-disselboom with a reim, they got their assegais and sticks and
-started.  I would have gone too, only I knew that somebody must look
-after the wagon, and I did not like to leave either of the boys with
-it at night.  I was in a very bad temper indeed, although I was
-pretty well used to these sort of occurrences, and soothed myself by
-taking a rifle and going to kill something.  For a couple of hours I
-poked about without seeing anything that I could get a shot at, but
-at last just as I was again within seventy yards of the wagon, I put
-up an old Impala ram from behind a mimosa thorn.  He ran straight for
-the wagon, and it was not till he was passing within a few feet of it
-that I could get a decent shot at him.  Then I pulled, and caught him
-halfway down the spine; over he went, dead as a doornail, and a
-pretty shot it was, though I ought not to say it.  This little
-incident put me into rather a better temper, especially as the buck
-had rolled over right against the after part of the wagon, so I had
-only to gut him, fix a reim round his legs, and haul him up.  By the
-time I had done this the sun was down, and the full moon was up, and
-a beautiful moon it was.  And then there came down that wonderful
-hush that sometimes falls over the African bush in the early hours of
-the night.  No beast was moving, and no bird called.  Not a breath of
-air stirred the quiet trees, and the shadows did not even quiver;
-they only grew.  It was very oppressive and very lonely, for there
-was not a sign of the cattle or the boys.  I was quite thankful for
-the society of old Kaptein, who was lying down contentedly against
-the disselboom, chewing the cud with a good conscience.
-
-"Presently, however, Kaptein began to get restless.  First he
-snorted, then he got up and snorted again.  I could not make it out,
-so like a fool I got down off the wagon-box to have a look round,
-thinking it might be the lost oxen coming.
-
-"Next instant I regretted it, for all of a sudden I heard an awful
-roar and saw something yellow flash past me and light on poor
-Kaptein.  Then came a bellow of agony from the ox, and a crunch as
-the lion put his teeth through the poor brute's neck, and I began to
-realize what had happened.  My rifle was in the wagon, and my first
-thought was to get hold of it, and I turned and made a bolt for it.
-I got my foot on the wheel and flung my body forward on to the wagon,
-and there I stopped as if I was frozen, and no wonder, for as I was
-about to spring up I heard the lion behind me, and next second I felt
-the brute--ay, as plainly as I can feel this table--I felt him, I
-say, sniffing at my left leg that was hanging down.
-
-"My word!  I did feel queer; I don't think that I ever felt so queer
-before.  I dared not move for the life of me, and the odd thing was
-that I seemed to lose power over my leg, which had an insane sort of
-inclination to kick out of its own mere motion--just as hysterical
-people want to laugh when they ought to be particularly solemn.
-Well, the lion sniffed and sniffed, beginning at my ankle and slowly
-nosing away up to my thigh.  I thought that he was going to get hold
-then, but he did not.  He only growled softly, and went back to the
-ox.  Shifting my head a little I got a full view of him.  He was the
-biggest lion I ever saw--and I have seen a great many--and he had a
-most tremendous black mane.  What his teeth were like you can
-see--look there, pretty big ones, ain't they?  Altogether he was a
-magnificent animal, and as I lay there sprawling on the fore-tongue
-of the wagon, it occurred to me that he would look uncommonly well in
-a cage.  He stood there by the carcass of poor Kaptein, and
-deliberately disemboweled him as neatly as a butcher could have done.
-All this while I dared not move, for he kept lifting his head and
-keeping an eye on me as he lifted his bloody chops.  When he had
-cleaned Kaptein out, he opened his mouth and roared, and I am not
-exaggerating when I say that the sound shook the wagon.  Instantly
-there came back an answering roar.
-
-"'Heavens!' I thought, 'there is his mate!'
-
-"Hardly was the thought out of my head when I caught sight in the
-moonlight of the lioness bounding along through the long grass, and
-after her a couple of cubs about the size of mastiffs.  She stopped
-within a few feet of my head, and stood and waved her tail, and fixed
-me with her glowing yellow eyes; but just as I thought that all was
-over, she turned, and began to feed on Kaptein, and so did the cubs.
-There were the four of them within eight feet of me, growling and
-quarreling, rending and tearing and crunching poor Kaptein's bones;
-and there I lay, shaking with terror, and the cold perspiration
-pouring out of me, feeling like another Daniel come to judgment, in a
-new sense of the phrase.  Presently the cubs had eaten their fill,
-and began to get restless.  One went round to the back of the wagon
-and pulled at the Impala buck that hung there, and the other came
-round my way and began the sniffing game at my leg.  Indeed, he did
-more than that, for, my trousers being hitched up a little, he began
-to lick the bare skin with his rough tongue.  The more he licked, the
-more he liked it, to judge from his increased vigor and the loud
-purring noise he made.  Then I knew that the end had come, for in
-another second his file-like tongue would have rasped through the
-skin of my leg--which was luckily pretty tough--and have got to the
-blood, and then there would be no chance for me.  So I just lay there
-and thought of my sins, and prayed to the Almighty, and thought that,
-after all, life was a very enjoyable thing.
-
-"And then all of a sudden I heard a crashing of bushes, and the
-shouting and whistling of men, and there were the two boys coming
-back with the cattle which they had found trekking along all
-together.  The lions lifted their heads and listened, and then
-without a sound bounded off--and I fainted.
-
-"The lions came back no more that night, and by the next morning my
-nerves had got pretty straight again; but I was full of wrath when I
-thought of all that I had gone through at the hands, or rather noses,
-of those four lions, and of the fate of my after ox Kaptein.  He was
-a splendid ox, and I was very fond of him.  So wroth was I that, like
-a fool, I determined to go for the whole family of them.  It was
-worthy of a greenhorn out on his first hunting trip; but I did it,
-nevertheless.  Accordingly, after breakfast, having rubbed some oil
-upon my leg, which was very sore from the cub's tongue, I took the
-driver, Tom, who did not half like the job, and having armed myself
-with an ordinary double No. 12 smoothbore, the first breechloader I
-ever had, I started.  I took the smoothbore because it shot a bullet
-very well; and my experience has been that a round ball from a
-smoothbore is quite as effective against a lion as an express bullet.
-The lion is soft, and not a difficult animal to finish if you hit him
-anywhere in the body.  A buck takes far more killing.
-
-"Well, I started, and the first thing I set to work to do was to try
-to make out whereabouts the brutes lay up for the day.  About three
-hundred yards from the wagon was the crest of a rise covered with
-single mimosa trees, dotted about in a park-like fashion, and beyond
-this was a stretch of open plain running down to a dry pan, or
-waterhole, which covered about an acre of ground, and was densely
-clothed with reeds, now in the sere and yellow leaf.  From the
-further edge of this pan the ground sloped up again to a great cleft,
-or nullah, which had been out out by the action of water and was
-pretty thickly sprinkled with bush, among which grew some large
-trees, I forget of what sort.
-
-"It at once struck me that the dry pan would be a likely place to
-find my friends in, as there is nothing a lion is fonder of than
-lying up in reeds, through which he can see things without being seen
-himself.  Accordingly thither I went and prospected.  Before I had
-got halfway round the pan I found the remains of a blue vilderbeeste,
-that had evidently been killed within the last three or four days and
-partially devoured by lions; and from other indications about I was
-soon assured that, if the family were not in the pan that day, they
-spent a good deal of their spare time there.  But if there, the
-question was how to get them out; for it was clearly impossible to
-think of going in after them unless one was quite determined to
-commit suicide.  Now, there was a strong wind blowing from the
-direction of the wagon, across the reedy pan toward the bush-clad
-kloof, or donga, and this first gave me the idea of firing the reeds,
-which, as I think I told you, were pretty dry.  Accordingly, Tom took
-some matches and began starting little fires to the left, and I did
-the same to the right.  But the reeds were still green at the bottom,
-and we should never have got them well alight had it not been for the
-wind, which got stronger and stronger as the sun got higher, and
-forced the fire into them.  At last, after half an hour's trouble,
-the flame got a hold, and began to spread out like a fan, whereupon I
-got round to the farther side of the pan to wait for the lions,
-standing well out in the open, as we stood at the copse to-day where
-you shot the woodcock.  It was a rather risky thing to do, but I used
-to be so sure of my shooting in those days that I did not so much
-mind the risk.  Scarcely had I got round when I heard the reeds
-parting before the onward rush of some animal.  'Now for it,' said I.
-On it came.  I could see that it was yellow, and prepared for action,
-when, instead of a lion, out bounded a beautiful reit-bok, which had
-been lying in the shelter of the pan.  It must, by the way, have been
-a reit-bok of a peculiarly confiding nature to lay itself down with
-the lion like the lamb of prophecy, but, I suppose that the reeds
-were thick, and that it kept a long way off.
-
-"Well, I let the reit-bok go, and it went like the wind, and I kept
-my eyes fixed upon the reeds.  The fire was burning like a furnace
-now; the flames crackling and roaring as they bit into the reeds,
-sending spouts of fire twenty feet and more into the air, and making
-the hot air dance above it in a way that was perfectly dazzling.  But
-the reeds were still half-green, and created an enormous quantity of
-smoke, which came rolling toward me like a curtain, lying very low on
-account of the wind.  Presently, above the crackling of the fire, I
-heard a startled roar, then another and another.  So the lions were
-at home.
-
-"I was beginning to get excited now, for, as you fellows know, there
-is nothing in experience to warm up your nerves like a lion at close
-quarters, unless it is a wounded buffalo; and I got still more so
-when I made out through the smoke that the lions were all moving
-about on the extreme edge of the reeds.  Occasionally they would pop
-their heads out like rabbits from a burrow, and then, catching sight
-of me standing about fifty yards out, draw them back again.  I knew
-that it must be getting pretty warm behind them, and that they could
-not keep the game up for long; and I was not mistaken, for suddenly
-all four of them broke cover together, the old black-maned lion
-leading by a few yards.  I never saw a more splendid sight in all my
-hunting experience than those four lions bounding across the veldt,
-overshadowed by the dense pall of smoke and backed by the fiery
-furnace of the burning reeds.
-
-"I reckoned that they would pass, on their road to the bushy kloof,
-within about twenty-five yards of me, so, taking a long breath, I got
-my gun well on to the lion's shoulder--the black-maned one--so as to
-allow for an inch or two of motion, and catch him through the heart.
-I was on, dead on, and my finger was just beginning to tighten on the
-trigger, when suddenly I went blind--a bit of reed-ash had drifted
-into my right eye.  I danced and rubbed, and got it more or less
-clear just in time to see the tail of the last lion vanishing round
-the bushes up the kloof.
-
-"If ever a man was mad, I was that man.  It was too bad; and such a
-shot in the open, too!  However, I was not going to be beaten, so I
-just turned and marched for the kloof.  Tom, the driver, begged and
-implored me not to go, but though as a general rule I never pretended
-to be very brave (which I am not), I was determined that I would
-either kill those lions or they should kill me.  So I told Tom that
-he need not come unless he liked, but I was going; and being a plucky
-fellow, a Swazi by birth, he shrugged his shoulders, muttered that I
-was mad or bewitched, and followed doggedly in my tracks.
-
-"We soon got to the kloof, which was about three hundred yards in
-length and but sparsely wooded, and then the real fun began.  There
-might be a lion behind every bush--there certainly were four lions
-somewhere; the delicate question was where.  I peeped and poked and
-looked in every possible direction, with my heart in my mouth, and
-was at last rewarded by catching a glimpse of something yellow moving
-behind a bush.  At the same moment, from another bush opposite me out
-burst one of the cubs and galloped back toward the burnt-out pan.  I
-whipped round and let drive a snapshot that tipped him head over
-heels, breaking his back within two inches of the root of the tail,
-and there he lay, helpless but glaring.  Tom afterward killed him
-with his assegai.  I opened the breech of the gun, and hurriedly
-pulled out the old case, which, to judge from what ensued, must, I
-suppose, have burst and left a portion of its fabric sticking to the
-barrel.  At any rate, when I tried to get in the new case it would
-only enter halfway; and--would you believe it?--this was the moment
-that the lioness, attracted, no doubt, by the outcry of her cub,
-chose to put in an appearance.  There she stood, twenty paces or so
-from me, lashing her tail, and looking just as wicked as it is
-possible to conceive.  Slowly I stepped backward, trying to push in
-the new case, and as I did so, she moved on in little runs, dropping
-down after each run.  The danger was imminent, and the case would not
-go in.  At the moment I oddly enough thought of the cartridge-maker
-whose name I will not mention, and earnestly hoped that, if the
-lioness got me, some condign punishment would overtake him.  It would
-not go in, so I tried to pull it out.  It would not come out, either,
-and my gun was useless if I could not shut it to use the other
-barrel.  I might as well have had no gun.  Meanwhile I was walking
-backward, keeping my eye on the lioness, who was creeping forward on
-her belly without a sound, but lashing her tail and keeping her eye
-on me; and in it I saw that she was coming in a few seconds more.  I
-dashed my wrist and the palm of my hand against the brass rim of the
-cartridge till the blood poured from them--look, there are the scars
-of it to this day!"
-
-Here Quatermain held up his right hand to the light, and showed us
-seven or eight white cicatrices just where the wrist is set into the
-hand.
-
-"But it was not of the slightest use," he went on; "the cartridge
-would not move.  I only hope that no other man will ever be put in
-such an awful position.  The lioness gathered herself together, and I
-gave myself up for lost, when suddenly Tom shouted out from somewhere
-in my rear:
-
-"'You are walking on to the wounded cub; turn to the right.'
-
-"I had the sense, dazed as I was, to take the hint, and slewing round
-at right-angles, but still keeping my eyes on the lioness, I
-continued my backward walk.
-
-"To my intense relief, with a low growl she straightened herself,
-turned, and bounded off further up the kloof.
-
-"'Come on, Inkoos,' said Tom, 'let's get back to the wagon.'
-
-"'All right, Tom,' I answered.  'I will when I have killed those
-three other lions,' for by this time I was bent on shooting them as I
-never remember being bent on anything before or since.  'You can go
-if you like, or you can get up a tree.'
-
-"He considered the position a little, and then he very wisely got up
-a tree.  I wish that I had done the same.
-
-"Meanwhile I had got out my knife, which had an extractor in it, and
-succeeded after some difficulty in hauling out the case which had so
-nearly been the cause of my death, and removing the obstruction in
-the barrel.  It was very little thicker than a postage-stamp;
-certainly not thicker than a piece of writing-paper.  This done, I
-loaded the gun, bound my handkerchief round my wrist and hand to
-stanch the flowing of the blood, and started on again.
-
-"I had noticed that the lioness went back into a thick green bush, or
-rather cluster of bushes, growing near the water, for there was a
-little stream running down the kloof, about fifty yards higher up,
-and for this I made.  When I got there, however, I could see nothing,
-so I took up a big stone and threw it into the bushes.  I believe
-that it hit the other cub, for out it came with a rush, giving me a
-broadside shot, of which I promptly availed myself, knocking it over
-dead.  Out, too, came the lioness like a flash of light, but quick as
-she went, I managed to put the other bullet into her ribs, so that
-she rolled right over three times like a shot rabbit.  I instantly
-got two more cartridges into the gun, and as I did so, the lioness
-got up again and came crawling toward me on her fore-paws, roaring
-and groaning, and with such an expression of diabolical fury on her
-countenance as I have not often seen.  I shot her again through the
-chest, and she fell over on to her side quite dead.
-
-"That was the first and last time that I ever killed a brace of lions
-right and left, and, what is more, I never heard of anybody else
-doing it.  Naturally I was considerably pleased with myself, and
-having again loaded up, went on to look for the black-maned beauty
-which had killed Kaptein.  Slowly and with the greatest care I
-proceeded up the kloof, searching every bush and tuft of grass as I
-went.  It was wonderfully exciting work, for I never was sure from
-one moment to another but that he would be on me.  I took comfort,
-however, from the reflection that a lion rarely attacks a
-man--rarely, I say; sometimes he does, as you will see--unless he is
-cornered or wounded.
-
-"I must have been out for nearly an hour hunting after the lion.
-Once I thought I saw something move in a clump of tambouki grass, but
-I could not be sure, and when I trod out the grass I could not find
-him.
-
-"At last I got up to the head of the kloof, which made a cul-de-sac.
-It was formed of a wall of rock about fifty feet high.  Down this
-rock trickled a little waterfall, and in front of it, some seventy
-feet from its face, was a great piled-up mass of bowlders, in the
-crevices and on the top of which grew ferns and grass and stunted
-bushes.  This mass was about twenty-five feet high.  The sides of the
-kloof here were also very steep.  Well, I got up to the top of the
-nullah and looked all around.  No signs of the lion.  Evidently I had
-either overlooked him further down, or he had escaped right away.  It
-was very vexatious; but still three lions were not a bad bag for one
-gun before dinner, and I was fain to be content.  Accordingly I
-departed back again, making my way round the isolated pillar of
-bowlders, and beginning to feel that I was pretty well done up with
-excitement and fatigue, and should be more so before I had skinned
-those three lions.  When I had got, as nearly as I could judge, about
-eighteen yards past the pillar or mass of bowlders, I turned to have
-another look round.  I have a pretty sharp eye, but I could see
-nothing at all.
-
-"Then, on a sudden, I saw something sufficiently alarming, On the top
-of the mass of bowlders opposite to me, standing out clear against
-the rock beyond, was the huge black-maned lion.  He had been
-crouching there, and now arose as though by magic.  There he stood,
-lashing his tail, just like a statue of the animal on the gateway of
-Northumberland House that I have seen a picture of.  But he did not
-stand long.  Before I could fire--before I could do more than get the
-gun to my shoulder--he sprang straight up and out from the rock, and
-driven by the impetus of that one mighty bound came hurtling through
-the air toward me.
-
-"Heavens! how grand he looked, and how awful!  High into the air he
-flew, describing a great arc.  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 snapshot at 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--whom, 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 opened.  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 center of his chest and passed out on the right side
-of the spine about halfway 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 got the handkerchief off my wrist and tied it round
-my leg, twisting it tight with a stick, I think I should have bled to
-death.
-
-"Well, it was a just reward for my folly in trying to tackle a family
-of lions single-handed.  The odds were too long.  I have been lame
-ever since, and shall be till my dying day; in the month of March the
-wound always troubles me a great deal, and every three years it
-breaks out raw.  I need scarcely add that I never traded the lot of
-ivory at Sikukuni's.  Another man got it--a German--and made five
-hundred pounds out of it, after paying expenses.  I spent the next
-month on the broad of my back, and was a cripple for six months after
-that.  And now I've told you the yarn, so I will have a drop of
-Hollands and go to bed."
-
-
-
-THE END.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPRING OF A LION ***
-
-Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will
-be renamed.
-
-Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
-law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
-so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the
-United States without permission and without paying copyright
-royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
-of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
-concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
-and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
-the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
-of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
-copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
-easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
-of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
-Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may
-do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
-by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
-license, especially commercial redistribution.
-
-START: FULL LICENSE
-
-THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
-PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
-
-To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
-distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
-(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
-Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
-Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
-www.gutenberg.org/license.
-
-Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-
-1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
-and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
-(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
-the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
-destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your
-possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
-Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
-by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
-person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
-1.E.8.
-
-1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
-used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
-agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
-things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
-paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this
-agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
-
-1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the
-Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
-of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual
-works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
-States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
-United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
-claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
-displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
-all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
-that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting
-free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm
-works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
-Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily
-comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
-same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when
-you share it without charge with others.
-
-1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
-what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
-in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
-check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
-agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
-distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
-other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no
-representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
-country other than the United States.
-
-1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
-
-1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
-immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear
-prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work
-on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the
-phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,
-performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
-
-  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-  most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
-  restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
-  under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
-  eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
-  United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
-  you are located before using this eBook.
-
-1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is
-derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
-contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
-copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
-the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
-redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project
-Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
-either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
-obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm
-trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
-
-1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
-with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
-must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
-additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
-will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works
-posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
-beginning of this work.
-
-1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
-License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
-work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
-
-1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
-electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
-prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
-active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm License.
-
-1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
-compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
-any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
-to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format
-other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official
-version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website
-(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
-to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
-of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain
-Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the
-full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
-
-1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
-performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
-unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
-
-1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
-access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-provided that:
-
-* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
-  the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
-  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
-  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has
-  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
-  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
-  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
-  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
-  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
-  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
-  Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
-  Literary Archive Foundation."
-
-* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
-  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
-  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
-  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
-  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
-  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm
-  works.
-
-* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
-  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
-  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
-  receipt of the work.
-
-* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
-  distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
-
-1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than
-are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
-from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
-the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
-forth in Section 3 below.
-
-1.F.
-
-1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
-effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
-works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
-Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
-contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
-or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
-intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
-other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
-cannot be read by your equipment.
-
-1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
-of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
-liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
-fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
-LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
-PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
-TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
-LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
-INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
-DAMAGE.
-
-1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
-defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
-receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
-written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
-received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
-with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
-with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
-lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
-or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
-opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
-the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
-without further opportunities to fix the problem.
-
-1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
-in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO
-OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
-LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
-
-1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
-warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
-damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
-violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
-agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
-limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
-unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
-remaining provisions.
-
-1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
-trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
-providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in
-accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
-production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
-including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
-the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
-or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or
-additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any
-Defect you cause.
-
-Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
-electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
-computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
-exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
-from people in all walks of life.
-
-Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
-assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
-goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
-remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
-and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future
-generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
-Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
-www.gutenberg.org
-
-Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation
-
-The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
-501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
-state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
-Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
-number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
-U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
-
-The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,
-Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
-to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website
-and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
-
-Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
-Literary Archive Foundation
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without
-widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
-increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
-freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
-array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
-($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
-status with the IRS.
-
-The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
-charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
-States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
-considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
-with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
-where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
-DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
-state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
-
-While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
-have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
-against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
-approach us with offers to donate.
-
-International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
-any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
-outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
-
-Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
-methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
-ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
-donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
-
-Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-
-Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be
-freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
-distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of
-volunteer support.
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
-editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
-the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
-necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
-edition.
-
-Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
-facility: www.gutenberg.org
-
-This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
-including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
-subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.