“We soon reached the kloof， which was about three hundredyards in length and but sparsely wooded， and then the realfun began. There might be a lion behind every bush—therecertainly were four lions somewhere； the delicate questionwas， where. I peeped and poked and looked in every possibledirection， with my heart in my mouth， and was at last rewardedby catching a glimpse of something yellow moving behind abush. At the same moment， from another bush opposite meout burst one of the cubs and galloped back towards the burntpan. I whipped round and let drive a snap shot that tippedhim head over heels， breaking his back within two inches ofthe root of the tail， and there he lay helpless but glaring. Tomafterwards killed him with his assegai. I opened the breechof the gun and hurriedly pulled out the old case， which， tojudge from what ensued， must， I suppose， have burst and left aportion of its fabric sticking to the barrel. At any rate， when Itried to， get in the new cartridge it would only enter half-way；and—would you believe it？—this was the moment that thelioness， attracted no doubt by the outcry of her cub， chose toput in an appearance. There she stood， twenty paces or so fromme， lashing her tail and looking just as wicked as it is possibleto conceive. Slowly I stepped backwards， trying to push in thenew case， and as I did so she moved on in little runs， droppingdown after each run. The danger was imminent， and the casewould not go in. At the moment I oddly enough thought of thecartridge maker， whose name I will not mention， and earnestlyhoped that if the lion got me some condign punishment wouldovertake him. It would not go in， so I tried to pull it out. It wouldnot come out either， and my gun was useless if I could not shutit to use the other barrel. I might as well have had no gun.
“Meanwhile I was walking backward， keeping my eye onthe lioness， who was creeping forward on her belly without asound， but lashing her tail and keeping her eye on me； and init I saw that she was coming in a few seconds more. I dashedmy wrist and the palm of my hand against the brass rim of thecartridge till the blood poured from them—look， there are thescars of it to this day！”
Here Quatermain held up his right hand to the light andshowed us four or five white cicatrices just where the wrist isset into the hand.
“But it was not of the slightest use，” he went on， “the cartridgewould not move. I only hope that no other man will ever beput in such an awful position. The lioness gathered herselftogether， and I gave myself up for lost， when suddenly Tomshouted 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 slewinground 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 straightenedherself， turned， and bounded further up the kloof.
“‘Come on， Macumazahn，’ said Tom， ‘let’s get back to thewaggon.’
“‘All right， Tom，’ I answered. ‘I will when I have killedthose three other lions，’ for by this time I was bent on shootingthem as I never remember being bent on anything before orsince. ‘You can go if you like， or you can get up a tree.’
“He considered the position a little， and then he very wiselygot up a tree. I wish that I had done the same.
“Meanwhile I had found my knife， which had an extractorin it， and succeeded after some difficulty in pulling out thecartridge which had so nearly been the cause of my death，and removing the obstruction in the barrel. It was very littlethicker than a postage-stamp； certainly not thicker than apiece of writing-paper. This done， I loaded the gun， bound ahandkerchief round my wrist and hand to staunch the flowingof the blood， and started on again.
“I had noticed that the lioness went into a thick green bush，or rather cluster of bushes， growing near the water， about fiftyyards higher up， for there was a little stream running downthe kloof， and I walked towards this bush. When I got there，however， I could see nothing， so I took up a big stone andthrew it into the bushes. I believe that it hit the other cub， forout it came with a rush， giving me a broadside shot， of whichI promptly availed myself， knocking it over dead. Out， too，came the lioness like a flash of light， but quick as she went Imanaged to put the other bullet into her ribs， so that she rolledright over three times like a shot rabbit. I instantly got twomore cartridges into the gun， and as I did so the lioness roseagain and came crawling towards me on her fore-paws， roaringand groaning， and with such an expression of diabolical furyon her countenance as I have not often seen. I shot her againthrough the chest， and she fell over on to her side quite dead.