Fingerz42-

Lions react in a very frenzied way when they're hit, even if mortally wounded. They either immediately vacate the area after being hit, orthey charge andclimb all over you like a pissed off swarm of bees.
The lion charged, jumped up almost missing his target, falls over, gets back up and runs away with quite a bit of left over energy. A wild lion would let that energy loose all over the hunter until he was killed.
Speak with some PH's or guys who've hunted Africa, they'll tell you. read from the likes of Ruark, Capstick, Caramojo Bell, etc and when you absorb the intensity in their writings regarding lion charges, you'll understand my point.
Just my .02 worth