All was breathlessly silent for a moment.

Then a shot from Stephenson's rifle said that the lion had burst from the reeds and into view.
We pushed our way out to see what had happened.
The lion had come out, then turned suddenly back into the cover of reeds, working its way along the front of the beaters.

For an instant Stephenson saw it and fired into the grass ahead of it without result.
The track of the lion was followed, but the animal had succeeded in getting around the beaters and back into the swamp.

Fires were lighted, but the reeds were too green to burn except in occasional spots.
A few minutes later the saises, posted like sentinels high on the hills that flanked the swamp, saw the lion again and galloped down to head it off.

It left the swamp and continued on down the rush-lined banks of a stream, zigzagging its way back and forth.