The evening world. [volume], November 24, 1887, EXTRA, Image 3

About The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931

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IIPIPrlJHj
. A TALE OF -
ThrGGLions
r Kk. HlC 08T of yon wlUhM0
aKyxWr noard ot AHttn Quater.
'V IS Cln! Amo'n wbo was ono of
lzzsfcMrHin luo lmrty that discoT-
" vvjL Kit' IlL crc 'UR Solomon's
WvNvv7 m'ncssomo Httlotimo
sSvyw ae on who ftor-
Zj, wards camo to Hvo
k T ' VV n England ncftr bis
ty ' .& UB( friond, Sir Henry
kij J-L 1 Curtis. Ho hns gono
jC" .Jgi hack to tho wilderness
trysl!&S'f now, ns thoso old
vlfi&2w hunters nlmoat invari.
JJOiM) ably do, on ono pro-
W&74fflA$v8S tex or nnotuor' They
f&7jis!i$iMw cannot endure civiliz.
' r-Tf " j 'nj(on for Tcry long, its
noise nnd rocket and tho omnipresence of
broad-clothcd humanity proving moro trying
to their nerves than tho dangers of tho desert.
I think that they fool lonely hero, for it is n
fact that is too littlo understood, though it
has ofton been stated, that thero is no lone
lincss liko tho loneliness of crowds, especi
ally to thoso who nro unaccustomed to them.
' What is thero in tho world," old Quater
main would say, "so desolate as to stand in
the streets of a great city and listen to the
footsteps falling, falling, multitudinous as
tho rain, and watch tho whlto line of facos as
they hurry past, you know not whence, you
know not wnithcr. They como and go, their
eyes meet yours with a cold staro, for a mo.
went thoir features nro written on your mind,
and then they nre gone for ever. You will
never see them again, they will never seo von
again ; they como up out of tho unknown, and
presently thoy once more vanish into tho un
known, taking their secrets with them.
Yes. that is loneliness puro and undcfilud;
hut to ono who knows and loves it, tho wil
dernessls not lonely, becauso tho spirit of
naturo is ovor thero to keep tho wanderer
company. He finds companions in tho winds
tho sunny Btrcams babblo liko Nature's
children at his feet ; high above him, in thoi
purple sunset, aro domes and minarets and
palaces, such as no mortal man hath built,
in and out of whoso flaming doors
tho glorious angels of tho sun seem
to niovo continually. And thero, too,
is tho wild gntno following its feeding
grounds in great armies, with tho springbok
thrown out brforo for skirmishersr then
rank upon rank of long-faced blesbuck
innrching and wheeling liko infantry, and
last, tho shining troops of qunggn and tho
fiorce-eyed shagg vildcrbeesto to take the
plnce of the cossack host that hangs upon an
emiy's flanks.
" Oh, no." ho would say, " the wildorness
is not lonely, for, mv boy. remember that the
further you get from man tho nearer you
grow , to God," and, though this is
a saying that might well be disputed,
it is ono I am suro that anybody will easily
understand who has watched the sun riso
mid iet on tho limitless deserted plains, and
been the thunder chariots of the clouds roll
in majesty across the depths of unfathomable
Bky.
Well, at any rate, ho went back again, and
now for many months I have heard nothing
at all of him, and to be frank, I greatly doubt
if nnybody will ovor hear of him again. I
fear that tho wilderness, that has for so many
years been a mother to him, will now also
prove his grave and tho grave of those who
accompanied him, for the quest upon which he
nnd they havo started is a wild one, indeed.
But while ho was in England for thoso
years or 30 between his return from tho suc
cessful discovery of tho wise king's buried
treasures and tho death of his only son, I saw
n great deal of old Allan Quatcrmain. I bad
known him years beforo in Africa, and after
ho camo home, whenever I had nothing bet
: tor to do, I used to run up to Yorkshiro and
stay with him, and in this way I at one timo
and another heard many of the incidents of
his past life, and most curious some of them
were.
No man can pass all thoso years following
the rough existence of an elephant hunter
without meeting with many strango adven
. tures, and ono w ay and another old Quarter
main has certainly seen his share Well, tho
story that I am going to tell you in the fol
lowing pages is one of the later of theso ml
ventures: though I forgot tho exact year
which it happened. At any rate I know that
it was the only one of his trips upon which
ho took his son Harry (who is siuco dead)
with him, and that Harry was then
about fourteen. And now for tho storv.
which I will repeat, as nearly as I can,
in tho words in which Hunter Quatcrmain
told it to mo one night in tho old oak.panclled
vestibule of his house in Yorkshire. We
were talking about gold-mining.
" Gold-mining!" ho broke in: "ah, yes, I
once went gold-mining at Pilgrim's Kcst in
the Transvaal, and it was before that that we
i had business about Jiru-.lim and the lions.
Do you know it? Well, it is, or was, ono of
' the queerest little places you ever saw. The
town itself was pitched in n stony valley .with
mountains all about it, and in the
middle of such scenery as one does not often
get tho chance of seeing. Many and many
is the time that I have thrown down my pick
and shovel in disgust, clambered out of my
claim, and walked a couple of miles or so to
the top of some hill. Then I would lio down
in tho grass nnd look out over tho glorious
stretch of country the smiling valleys, the
great mountains touched with gold real gold
of tho sunset, and clothed in sweopiug robes
of bush, and staro into tho depths of the per
fect sky above; yes, and thank heaven
I had got away from tho cursing and
the coarse jokes of the miners, nnd
the voices of those Basutu Kafirs
ns they toiled in tho sun, the memory of
which is with mo yet. Well, for some months
I dag patiently ot my claim till tho very
sight of a pick or of awashingtrough became
hateful to mo. A hundred times a day I la.
mentcd my own folly in having invested
800, which was about all that I was worth at
the time, in this gold-mining, But, like
Other better people before mo, I had been
bitten by tho gold bug, and now had to take
the consequences. I nod bought a oltiim out
of which a mau had mado n fortune 5,000
or 6,000 ot least as I thought, very cheap :
, that is. I had given him 600 down lor it. It
1 Mas all that I had made by a rough year's
elephant-hunting beyond the Zambesi, and I
sighed deeply nnd prophetically when I saw
my successful friend, who was a Yankee,
sweep up the roll of Standard Bank notes
with tho lordly nir of the man who made his
f fortune nnd cram them into his breeches
Pockets. ' Well,' I said to him tho happy
vendor' it is a magnificent property, and I
only hopo that my luok will be as good as
yours has been.' Ho smiled : to my excited
. nerves it seemed that lie smiled ominously,
as ho answered me in a peculiar Yankee
' drnwl: 'I guess, stranger, as I ain't the
one to mako n man quarrel
with his food, moro especial when there
i ain't no more going of tho rounds ; and as
for that there claim, well, sho's been a good
, nigger to me; but between you and me,
i stranger, speaking; man to man, now that
thero ain't any filthy lucre between us to
obsculato tho feathorB of the truth, I guess
tile's ubout worked out !'
" 1 gasped : the fellow's effrontery took
iray breath out of mo. Only five minutes be.
. fore he had been swearing by all his gods
? and they appeared to be numerous and
plxed that there wero half a dozen fortunes
' left in the claim, and that he was only giving
ft it up becauso he was downright weary of
3 shovelling the gold out.
1 " ' Don't look so vexed, stranger, went ou
I r.juy tormentor, ' perhaps thero is some shine
t. lu tho old gwl yet j any way you ore ft down.
V
1
V
I guess, have n real Al, old Jam, pWbUm
opportunity of workup on tjSUng.TSf
tfjrtune. Any way itwill bring the muscle
up upon your arm, for the stuffls unoommon
stiff, nnd what is more, you will in the course
or a year earn a sight moro than 82,000 in
value of experience.'
"Aud ho went hist in time, for in another
minute I should havo gono for him, and I
saw his face no more.
" "Hv1 Mt to work on the ld elftlm with
my boy Harry and half a dozen Kafirs to
help mo, which, seeing that I had put nearly
all my worldly wealth into it. was tho least
that I could do. And wo worked, my word,
we did work early and late wo wont at tt
but never a bit of gold did wo seo j no, not
oven a nugget large enough to makonBcarf
pin out of. Tho American gentleman had
secured it all and left us the sweepings. -
.Hi or. tnrco. months this wont on,
till at last I paid away all,
or very near all, that was left of
pur littlo capital in wages and food for the
Kafirs and ourselves. When I tell you that
Boer meal was somotimos as high as a bag.
you will understand that it d:d not tako long
to run through our banking account.
i M $ tno crisls came. On Saturday
night I had paid the men as usual, and
bought a muid of mealio meal at COs. for
thorn to fill themselves with, and then I wont
with my boy Harrv and sat on tho edgo
pf the great holo that wo hud dug in the
hill.side, and which wo had in bitter
mockery named Eldorado. Thero wo
sat in tho moonlight with our feet hanging
over tho edge of tno claim, and wero melan
choly enough for anything. Presently I
pulled out mv purso and emptiod its contents
into my hand. There was n half sovereign,
two florins, nine pence in silver.uo coppers
for copper practically does not oirculata in
South Africa, which la ono of the things that
mako living so dear thero in all exactly
fourteen and ninopenco.
" ' Thore, Harry my boy I' I sold, 'that is
the sum total of our worldly wealth; that hole
has swallowed all the rest.'
" ' By George,' said Master Harry, ' I say,
father, you and I shall have to lot ourselves
out to work with the Kafirs and live on mealio
pap,' and he sniggered at bin unpleasant little
joke.
" But I was in no mood for joking, for it is
not a merry thing to dig like anything for
months and bo completely ruined in tho pro.
oess, especially if you happon to dislike dig
f;ing, and consequently I resented Harry's
ight-heartcdness.
' Be quiet, boy 1' I said, raising my hand
as though to give him a ouff , with the result
that tho half sovereign slipped out of it and
fell into the gulf below.
" 'Oh, bother,' said I, 'it's gono.'
" 'Thero. Dad,' said Harry, 'that's what
comes of letting your angry passions rise;
now we aro down to four and nine.'
"I made no auswer to theso words of wis.
tloin, but scambled down the deep sides of
tho olaim followed by Harry, to hunt for my
littlo all. Well, wo bunted and wo hunted,
but tho moonlight is nn uncertain thing to
look for half sovereigns by, and thero was
some looso soil about, for tho Kafirs had
knocked off working at the very spot a
couple of hours beforo. I took a pick and
raked away the clods of earth with it, in
the hopo of finding the ooin; but all in
vain. At last in sheer annoyance I struck the
sharp end of the piokaxe down into the soil,
which was of a very hard nature. To my as
tonishment it sunk in right up to the heft.
" ' Why, Harry,' I said, ' this ground must
havo been disturbed!'
" I don't think so, father,' he answered,
' but we will soon see,' and ho began to
shovel out tho soil with his hands. ' Oh,' he
said presently, ' it'sonly some old stones ; the'
pick has gone down between theinvlookT
and he began to pull at ono of the stones.
" I TOOK IT COBIOUBLY AND HELD IT OP TO THE
I40HT."
" ' I say, Dad,' ho said presently, almost in
a whisper, ' it's precious neavv, feel it ;' and
he rose and gave mo n round, brownish lump
about tho size of a very large apple, which he
was holding in both his hands. I took it
curiously and hold it up to the light. It m
very heavy. The moonlight fell upon its
rough and filth-encrusted surface, and as I
looked curious little thrills of excitement be
gan to pass through mo. But I could not be
sure.
" ' Give mo your knife, Harry,' I said.
"Ho did so; and resting the brown stone
on my knee I scratched at its surface. Great
heavens, it was soft I
" Another second and the seoret was out,
wo hod found a great nugget of pure gold,
four pounds of it or more. ' It's gold, lad,' I
said1 its gold, or I'm a Dutchman.'
" Harry, with his eyes storting out of Mb
head glared down at the long gleaming yel
low scratch that I had made upon the virgin
metal, and then burst out into yell upon yell
of exultation, that wont ringing away across
the silent claims like the Bhneks of somebody
boing murdered.
"'Be quiet,' I said, 'do you want every
thief on the fiold after you f '
" Scarcely were the words out of my mouth
when I heard a stealthy footstep approach
ing. I promptly put the big nugget down
and sat on it, and uncommonly hard it was, and
as I did so I saw a lean, dark face poked over
the edge of tho claim and a pair of beady eyes
searching us out. I knew tho face. It be
longed to a man of very bad character known
as Handspike Tom, who had, I understood,
been so named at the Diamond Fields be
cause he had murdered his mate with a hand
spike. He was now, no doubt, prowling
about like a human hyama to see what he
could steal.
" ' Is that you, 'unter Quatennain ? ho
says.
r ' Yes, it's I, Mr. Tom, I answered po-
" And what might all that thero yelling
be ?' he asked. I was walking along, a-tak.
ing of the evening air and a-tbinktng on the
stars, when I 'ears 'owl after 'owl.'
,"'Well, Mr. Tom, I answered, 'that is
not to bo wondered at, seeing that like your
self thoy are nocturnal birds.'
""Owl after 'owll' ho repeated sternly,
taking no notice of my' interpretation, ' and
I stops and says, "That's murder," and
I listens again and thinks, "No, it
ain't; that 'owl is the 'owl of hexul.
tation ; some ono'8 been and got his
fingers into a gummy yeller pot, I'll swear,
and gone off 'is 'ead in the sucking of them."
Now, 'unter Quatennain, is I right? Is it
nuggets I Oh, lor! and he smacked his lips
audibly 'great big yellow boys is it them
that you have just been and tumbled acrosi ?'
"'No,' I said boldly. ' it isn't'-the cruel
gleam in his black eyes altogether overcom.
ing my aversion to the untruth, for I knew
that if ne once found out what it was that I
was sitting on and by the way I have heard
of rolling in gold being spoken of as a pleas,
ant process, but I certainly do not recom
mend anybody who values comfort to try
Bitting on it I should run a Very good
ibs TEitninLX nom or TUB TWO.
ohanco of being ' handspikod ' bofore the
night was over.
"' If you want to know what it was, Mr.
Tom,' I went ou with politest air, although
In agony from tho nugget underneath for I
hold it always best to bo pollto to a man who
is so ready with a handspike' my boy and
I havo hod n slight difference of opinion, and
I was enforcing my viow of tho mnttor upon
him: that's all.'
" ' Yes, Mr. Tom,' put in Harry, beginning
to weep, for Harry was n smart boy, and saw
tho difficulty wo wore in, ' that was it I hnl
loed because father beat mo.'
" ' Well, now, did yer, my dear boy, did
yor ? Well, all I can say is that a played-out
old claim is a wonderful queer sort of place
to como to for to argify at 10 o'clock of
night, and what's moro, my sweet youth, if
ovor I should 'avo tho argifying of yor' and
ho loored unpleasantly at llarry ' yor won't
'oiler in quite such a"jolly sort o' way. And
now I'll bo Baying good-night, for I don't
liko disturbing of a family party.'
No, I ain't that sort of man, I
ain't. Good-night to yer, 'unter Quator
main good-night to yor, my argiflod young
ono ;' and Mr. Tom turned away disappointed
and prowled off elsewhero, liko a human
jackal, to seo what he could thieve or kill.
" ' Thank goodness 1 ' I said, as I slippod
off tho lump of gold. ' Now then, do you
get up, Harry, and seo if that consummate
villain has gone.' Harry did bo, and roported
that ho had anished towards Pilgrims' Best,
and then wo set to work, and very carefully,
but trembling with excitement, with our
hands hollowed out all the space of ground
into which I had struck tho pick. Yes.
ns I hoped, thero was n regular nest
of nuggets, twelve in all, running
.from tho size of a hnzol-nut to that of a hen's
egg, though of course tho first ono was much
larger than that. How they all camo there
nobody can say ; it was ono of those extra
ordinary freaks, with stories of which, at any
rato. all people acquainted with alluvial gold
mining will lie familiar. It turned out after
wards that the American who sold mo tho
claim hod in the same way made his pile n
much larger one than ours, by the way out
of a single pocket, and then worked for six
months without seeing color, after which he
gavo it up.
" At any rato, thero tho nuggets were, to
tho value, as it turned out afterwards, of
about 1,250, bo that after all I took out of
that holo 450 more than I put into it. Wo
got them all out and wrapped them up in a
handkerchief, and then fearing to carry homo
ho much treasure, especially as wo knew that
Mr. Handspike Tom was on the prowl, made
up our minds to pass the night whore we wero
a necessity which, disagreeable as it was,
was wonderfully sweetened by the presence
of that handkerchief full of virgin gold,
which represented tho interest of my lost
half-sovereign.
" Slowly tho night woro away, for with tho
fear of Handspike Tom Bofore my eyes I did
not dare to go to sleep, and at last the dawn
came blushing down the sombre ways of
night. I got up and watched its perfect
Srowth, till it openod liko a vast celestial
owerupon tho eastern sky, and the sun
beams began to spring in splendor from
mountain-top to mountain-top. I watched
it, and as I did so it flashed upon me, with a
complete conviction that I had not felt be
foro, that I had had enough of gold-mining
to last me tho rest of my natural life, and I
then and there made up my mind to clear
out of Pilgrims' Best and no and shoot
buffalo towards Delagaa Bay. Then I turnod,
took the pick and shovel, and, although it
was a Sunday morning, woke up Harry and
set to work to see if there were any more
nuggets about. As I expected, there was
none. What we had got had lain together in
a little pocket filled with soil that felt quite
different from the stiff stuff round and out
side the pocket. There was not another trace
of gold. Of course, it is possible that there
were more pocketfuls somewhere about, but
all I have to say is, I mado up my mind that,
whoever found them, I should not ; and, as a
matter of fact, I have since heard that that
claim has been the ruin of two or three
people, as it very nearly was the ruin of mo.
" Harry,' I said presently, ' I am going
away this week towards Delngon to shoot
buffalo. Shall I take you with me or send
you down to Durban ?'
" ' Oh, take me with you. father,' begged
Harry, ' I want to kill a buffalo !'
" ' And supposing that tho buffalo kills you
instead ?' I asked.
" ' Oh, never mind,' ho said gayly, ' there
are lots moro where I camo from.'
" I rebuked him for his flippancy, but in
the end I consented to take him."
Chapter II.
Something over a fortnight had passed
since tho night when I lost half a sover
eign and found twelve hundred and fifty
pounds in looking for it, and instead of that
horrid hole, for whioh, after all, Eldorado
was scarcely a misnomer, a very different
scene stretched nway before us
clad in tho silver robe of the
moonlight. Wo were camped Harry and. I,
two Kafirs, a Scotch cart and six oxen on
the swelling side of a great wave of bush-clad
land. Just where we had made our camp,
however, the bush was very sparse, and only
grew about in clumps, while here and there
were single flat-topped mimosa trees. To our
right a little stream, -which had cut a-deep
channel for itself in the bosom of the slope,
flowed musically on between banks green
with maidenhair, wild asparagus and many
beautiful grasses. Tho bed-rock here was
red granite, and in the course of centuries
of patient washing the water bad hollowed
out some of the huge slabs in its
path into great troughs and cups, and these
we used for bathing places. No ltoman lady,
with her baths of porphyry or alabaster,
could have had a more delicious spot to lavs
herself than we had within fifty yards of our
skerm or rough inclosure of mimosa thorn
that we had dragged together round the ctrt
to protect us from the attacks of lions.
There were several of these about, as I knew
from their spoor, though we had neither
beard nor seer, them.
" It was a little nook where the eddy of the
stream had washed away a mass of soil, and
on the edge of it there grew a most beautiful
old mimosa thorn. Beneath the thorn wai a
large smooth slab of granite fringed all round
with maidenhair and other ferns, that sloped
Rently down to a pool of the clean rt spark,
ng water, whioh lay in a bowl of granite
about ten feet wide by five feet deep in the
centre. Hereto this slab we went every
morning to bathe, and that dolightful bath is
among tno most pleasant of my bunting roni.
iniBcences, as it is also for reasons that will
presently appear among the most painful.
" It was a lovely night, and llarry nnd I
sat there to the windward of tho fire, at
which the two Kafirs woro busily employed
in cooking somo impala steaks off a buck
which Harry, to his great joy, had shot that
morning, and woro as porfoctly contented
with ourselves and tho world at largo as two
Iiooplo could possibly bo. Tho night wnB
leautiful, it would require somebody with
moro words on tho tip of their tongue than I
havo to properly describe tho chastened inn,
esty of thoso moonlit wilds. Away forover
and fornvor, nwoy to tho mystorious north,
rollod tho greot bush ocoan over which tho
silonco brooded. There beneath us, a niilo or
moro to tho right, ran tho wido Oliphaut and
mirror.liko flashed baek the moon, w hoao sll.
vor spears woro shivered on its breast and then
tossod in twisted linos of light far and
wide about tho mountains and tho plain.
Dow n upon tho river banks grow great tim
ber trees that, through tho stillness, polntod
solemnly to hoaven, and tho beauty of tho
night lay upon thorn liko n cloud. Evcry
whoro was silonco Bilcnco in tho starred
depths, silonco on tho fair bosom of tho
Bleeping earth. Now, if over, groat
thoughts might riso in a man's mind,
and for a spneo ho might lose his littlo
noss in tho seuso that ho partook of tho puro
immensity about him. Almost might he
eem to see tho spirit of tho heaVens, girdlod
round with stars, passing down in tho dead
quiet to look, now that tho night hnd covered
up her sins, upon the sleeping face of his
lost bride, the earth. Almost might ho hear
the cohoes of angelio voices, as tho spirits
poised ou bent and rushing pinions swept
onward from univerBo to univorso ; and dis
tinguish the white fingers of tho wind play,
ing in tho tresses of the trees.
" Hark I what was that ?"
" From far away down by tho river thero
comes a mighty rolling sound, then another,
and another. It Is tho lion scoking his meat.
" I saw Harry shiver and turn a little palo.
Ho was a plucky boy enough, but the roar of
n lion for the first time in the solemn bush
veldt nt night is apt to shake tho nerves of
any lad.
' Lions, my boy,' I said; ' they aro hunting
down by the rivor thore ; but I don't think
that yon need make yourself uneasy. Wo
have been here three nights now, and if thoy
wero going to pay us n visit I should think
that they would hnvo done so bofore this.
However, wo will mako up tho fire.'
" 'Hero, Pharaoh, do you and Jim-Jim cot
somo moro wood beforo we go to sleep, elso
tho catB will be purring round you boforo
morning.'
"Pharaoh, n great brawny Swazi, who
had been working for mo at Pilgrims' Best,
laughed, rose and stretched himself,
ana then calling to Jim-Jim to bring tho
axo and a reim. started off in tho moon
light towards a clump of sugar-bush whoro
we cut our fuol from Borne dead trees. Ho
was a flno fellow in his way, was Pharaoh,
and I thing that ho had been named Pharaoh
becauso he had an Egyptian cast of counte
nance and a royal sort of swagger about him.
But his way was a somewhat peculiar way, on
account of tho uncertainty of his temper,
and very few peoplo could pot on with
him; also if ho could get it ho would
drink liko a fish, and when ho
drank he. became shockingly blood
thirsty. These wero his bad points; his good
ones were that, liko most people of the Zulu
blood, he became exceedingly attached to
ono if he took to you at all ; he was a hard
working and intelligent man, and about as
dare-devil and plucky a fellow at a pinch as I
have ever had to do with. He was about
five-and. thirty years of ago or so, but not a
kesbla'or ringed man. I beliovo that ho
got into trouble in suino way in Swaziland,
and the authorities of his tribo would not
allow him to assume tho ring, and that is
why ho came to work at the gold fields.
The old man, or rather lad, Jim-Jim,
was a Mapoch Kafir, or Knobnoso, and
even in the light of subsequent events I fear
that I cannot speak very well of him. He was
an idle and careless young rascal, and only
that very morning I had to tell Pharaoh to
give him a beating for letting the oxen stray,
which he did with the greatest gusto.although
he was by way of being very fond of Jim.
Jim. Indeed, I saw him consoling Jim-Jim
afterwards with a pinch of snuff from his
own ear-box, wbiUt ho explained to him that
the next timo it camo in tho way of duty to
flog him, he meant to thrash him with tho
other hand, so as to cross tho old cuts and
make a ' pretty pattern ' on his back.
" Well, off they went, though Jim-Jim did
not at all like leaving the camp at that hour,
even when the moonlight was so bright, and
in due course returned safely enough with a
great bundle of wood. I laughed at Jim-Jim
and asked him if he hod soon anything, and
he said yes, he had ; he had seen two large,
yellow eyes staring at him from behind a
bush, and hoard something snore.
" As, however, on further investigation tho
yellow eyes and the snore appeared to have
existed only in Jim-Jim's lively imagination,
I was not greatly disturbed by this jtlarming
report ; but, having seen to tho making up of
the fire, got into the skerm and went quietly
to sleep with Harry by my side.
" Some hours afterwards I woke up with a
start. I don't know what woke me. The
moon bad gono down, or at least was almost
hidden behind the soft horizon of bush, only
her red rim being visible Also a wind had
sprung up and was driving long hurrying lines
of cloud across tho (tarry sky, and altogether
a great ohange had como over the mood of
the night. By the look of the sky I judgod
that we must be about two hours from day.
break.
" Tho oxen, which wero as usual tied to tho
disselboom of tho Scotch cart, wero very
restless they kept snuffling and blowing and
rising up and lying down again, so I at once
suspected that they must wind something.
Presently I knew what it was that they
winded, for within fifty yards of us a lion
roared, not very loud, but quito loud enough
to make my heart come into my mouth.
" Fbaroah was sleeping on the other side of
the cart, and beneath it I saw him raise his
head and listen.
'"Lion. Inkoos,' he whispered. ' Hon.'
" Jim-Jim also jumped up, and by the faint
Found It Excellent.
ltj I, ISM,
Meura. Rnu A Horn
1'Ium tend n it on 3 bottlM of DlBlArABILLA, O,
O. D. l haft bad on bottU, found It oiMlUnt.
Y"lT'DOJKan, JW Yrt Ult rt., Olt, V
HchtuI could sea that lie was ifl a very grcftt
fright indeed.-'
''Thinking that it was as well to be pre
pared for emergencies, I told Pharonh to
throw wood upon the fire, and wokoup Harry,
who I vorily believo was capablo of sleeping
happily through tho crack of doom. Ho was
a littlo Beared at first, but presently tho ex.
cltemcnt of tho position camo homo to him,
and ho bocamo quito anxious to boo his majes.
ty face to face. I got my rifle handy and
f;nvo Harry his a Westley Hichards falling
dock, which is n vory useful gun for a youth,
being light and yet a good killing rifle, and
then wo waited.
" For a long timo nothing happened, and I
began to think that tho best thing that wo
could do would bo to go to sleep again, when
suddenly I heard a sound moro liko a cough
than a roar within about twenty yards of tho
skerm. Wo all looked out, but could seo
nothing ; and thou followed another period
of suspense. It was vory trying to tho nerves,
this waiting for an attaok that might be de
veloped from any quarter, or might not bo
developed at all ; and though I was an old
hnnd at this sort of business, I was anxious
about Harry, for it is wonderful how tho
presonco of anybody to whom ono is at.
inched unnerves n mau in 'moments of
danger, and that mado mn nervous. I know,
although it was now chilly enough, I could
feel tho perspiration running down my mibo,
and in order to relieve tho strain on my at
tentiou, employed myself in watching n
beetle which appeared to bo nttrneted by tho
firelight, nnd was sitting beforo it thought
fully rubbing his mitennm ngaiust each other.
" Suddenly tho beetle gavo such a jump
that ho nearly pitched headlong into tho tire,
and so did wo nil gavo tumps, I mean, and
no wonder, for from right under tlm skerm
fenco thero camo n most frightful roar -a
roar that literally madu tho Scotch cart shako
and shako and took tho breath out of mn,
"Harry mado an exclamation, Jim-Jim
howled outright, whilo tho poor oxen, who
were torrifioil almost out of their hides, shiv
ered nud lowed piteouBly.
" Tho night was almost ontiroly dark now,
for the moon had quito sot and tho clouds
had covered up tho stars, so that tho only
light that wo had came from tbo fire, which
by this time was burning up brightly again.
But, as you know, firelight is absolutely use.
less to shoot by, it is so uncertain, and besides
it penetrates but a vory littlo way into tho
darkness, ivlthoupli if ono is in tho dark out
side ono can sou it from so far nway.
" Proscutly, tho oxen, aftor standing still
for a moment, suddenly winded tho lion and
did what I feared thoy would began to
skrek,' that is, to try and break looso from
tho troktow to which thoy' woro tied, and
rush off madly into the wilderness. Linns
know of this habit on tho part of oxen, which
are, I do believe, tho most foolish animals
'under tho sun, a shcop being n very Solomon
compnrod to thorn ; aud it is by no moans un
common for n lion to got in such a position
thnt n hord or span of oxen may wind him,
skrek, break their roims, and rush off into
tho buBh. Of course, onco thoy aro thero,
thoy aro helpless in tho dark : and then tho
lion chooses tho ono that ho loves best and
cats him at his leisure.
" Well, round and round went our six poor
oxon. nearly trampling us to deatli in their
mad rush; indeed, had wo not lmstily tum
bled out of tho woy, wo should have beon
trampled to death, or at tho least seriously
injured. As it was, Harry was run over, and
poor Jim-Jim being caught by tho troktow
Bomowhoro beneath tho arm, was hurled
right across tho skerm, landing by my side
only Bomo paces off.
" Snap went tho disselboom of tho cart bo
nentli the transverse strain put upon it. Had
it not broken tho cart would have overset; as
it was, in another minuto, oxen, cart, trok
tow, reims, broken disselboom, and every
thing wero soon tied in ono vast heaving,
pluiiging, bellowing, and seemingly incx
trienbio knot.
" For a uioment or two this stato of affairs
took my attention off from tho lion that hnd
caused it, but whilst I was wondering what
on earth wnB to be done next, and what wo
should do if Jhe cattle broko loose into tho
bush and wero lost, for cattle frightoned
in this manner will go right away liko
mad things, it was suddenly recalled in n very
painful fashion.
" For at that moment I pnrceived by tho
light of tho fire a kind of gleam of yellow
travelling through tho air towards us.
"'The lion! the lion! holloaed Pharaoh,
and as ho did so ho, or sho, for it was a great,
f;aunl lioness, half wild no doubt with
mnger, lit right in tho middle of tho skerm,
aud stood thoro in the smoky gloom and
lashed her tail and roarod. I seized my rifle
and fired It at hor, but what between tho con.
fusion and my agitation and tho uncertain
light, I missed hor and nearly
shot Pharaoh. Tho flash of the
rlflo, however, throw tho whole scene
into strong relief, and a wild ono it was, I
can tell you with tho seething mass of oxon
twisted all round the cart in such a fashion
that thoir heads' looked as though they wore
growing out ot their rumps and their horns
seemed to protrude from thoir backs ; the
smoking tiro with just a blazo in tho heart of
tho smoko; Jim-Jim in tho foreground,
whoro the oxon had thrown him in their wild
rush, stretched out thero in terror; and thou.
as a contra to tno picture, tno great gaunt
lioness glaring round with hungry yellow
eyes, roaring and whining as sho made up
her mind what to do.
"It did not take her long, however, just
tho timo that it takes a flash to die into dark
ness, for, before I could flro again or do any
thing, with a most fiendish snort sho sprang
xupou poor Jim-Jim.
" I beard the unfortunato lad shriek, and
thon almost instantly I bnw his legs thrown
into the air. Tho lioness had seized him liy
the neck, and with a sudden jork thrown his
body over her hack so that his legs hung
down upon tho further sido.
Thou, without the slightest hesitation, and
apparently without any difficulty, she cleared
the skerm fence at a single bound, and bear
ing poor Jim-Jim with her vanished into the
darknoss beyond, in tho direction of the
bathing-place that I havo already described.
We jumped up, perfectly mad with horror
amateur, and rushed wildly after her, firing
shots at haphazard on tho chauco that she
would bo frightened, by them into dropping
hor prey, but nothing could wo seo, and
nothing could wo hear. Thea lioness had
vanished into tho darkness, taking Jim-Jim
with hor, and to attempt to follow hor till
daylight was maduesi. Wo should only ex
poso ourselves to tho risk of a like fato.
" Ho with'scared aud heavy hearts wo crept
back to tho skenn, and sat down to wait for
duylight.which now could not ho much moro
than an hour off. It was absolutely useless
to try even to dibentanglo tho oxen till then,
so all that was loft for us to do was to sit and
wonder how it camo to pass that one should
bo taken and tho other left, and to hope
against hopo that our poor servant might
have been morcifullv delivered from tho
lion's jaws. At length the faint light came
stealing liko a ghost up the long slope
of bush and glinted on the tangled
oxen's horns, and with and frightened
faces wo got up and set to tho task of disen
tangling tho oxen till such timo as there
should be light enough to enable us to follow
the trail of the lionoss which had gono off
with Jim-Jim. And Jicro a fresh .Jjpublo
awaited us, 'for when at last with infinite
difficulty wo had got the great helpless brutes
loose, it was only to find thnt one of tho host
of them was very sick. There was no mis.
take about the way ho stood with his legs
slightly apart and his head hanging down.
Ho had got tho redwater, I was sure of it.
Of all tho difficulties connected with
life and travelling in fcjoutli Africa
thoso connected with oxen are
perhaps tho worst. The ox is tho
most exasperating animal in the world, a
negro excepted. He has absolutely no con
stitution, and nover neglects an opportunity
of falling sick of some mysterious disease.
He will get thin upon the slightest provoca
tion, and from mere maliciousness die of
' poverty ; ' whereas it is his chief delight to
turn round and refuse to pull whenever he
finds himself well in the centre of a river, or
the wagon-wheel nicely fast in a mud
hole. Drive him a few miles over
rough roads and yon will find that
he la footsore ; turn him loose to feed
I hr known a Hod carry a iwo-year-olrt ox
over a stone wall 4 feel hlgb in thta laahlon, and a
mile awaj into the liuah beyond. He waa subae
fluently polaoned with atrycnnlne put Into tbe car
cats of ins x,and I UU nave ala claws, En noa
n,ridotrr eb'Tr Wat bJ'torun Sway, !
or if ha. has not run away he has ot roaljo
aforethought eaten r tulip and polaoneU
himself. There is always something wrong :
with him, , The ox is a brute. It was of a
piece with his accustomed behavior for the
one in question to break out on purpose,
probably with rodwater Just when a Hon
had walked off with his border. It was ex.
actly what I should have expected, and I was
therefore neither disappointed nor surprised.
" Well, it wns no uso crying, as I should
nlmost have liked to do, becauso if this
ox hnd redwater it was probable that tho
rest of them had it too, although they
had been sold to mo as 'salted,' that
is, proof against such diseases as redwater
ami lung-sick. Ono gets hardenod to this
sort of thing in South Africa in course of
time, for I supposo iu no other country in
tho world is tho wasto of animal life so
great.
"Ho, taking my rlflo and telling Harrv to
follow me (for we had to leavo Pharaoh to
look after tho oxen Phoroah's lean kino I
called them), I started to seo If anything
could bo found of or appertaining to the
unfortunato Jim-Jim. The ground round
our littlo camp was hard and rocky,
and wo could not hit off any spoor
of tho lioness, though just ontsido
tho skerm wo saw n drop or two of blood.
About thren hundred yards from tho camp,
and a littlo to tho right, waa a patch ot sugar
bush mixed up with the usual mimosa, aud
for this I made, thinking that tho lioness
would havo been Buro to takn hor proy thore
to dovour it. On wo pushed through tho
long grass that was bent down beneath tho,
weight of tho soaking dow. In two minute
wo wore wet through up to the thighs, as
wet as though we had waded through water.
In duo course, however, wo reached tho
patch of bush, and iu tho gray light of tho
morning cautiouBly and slowly pnshod our
way into it. It was very dark under tho trees
for tho sun wan not yet up, so wo
walked witji tho most extreme caro,
half expecting every minuto to come noross
tho lioness llcklnc tho bones of poor
Jim-Jim. But no lioness oould wo see, and
as for Jim-Jim thore was not even n finger
Joint of him to be found. Evidently they
had not como hero.
"So pushing through the bush we proceed
ed to hunt ovory other likely Bpot about,
with the snmo result.
" ' I suppose she must hnve taken him right
away,' I Bald at last, sadly enough. ' At any
rate, ho will bo dead by now, so God have
mercy on him, wo can't help him. What's to
bo ilono now ?'
" ' 1 suppose that wo had hotter wash our
selves in the pool, and then go back and got
something to eat. I am filthy,' Raid Harry.
"This was a practical, if a somewhat un
feeling, suggestion. At least it struck mo as
unfeeling to talk of washing when poor Jim
Jim hnd been so recently enton. However, I
did not lot my sontiment carry mo away, so
wo wont down to tho beautiful spot that I
havo described, to wash. I was tbe first to
reach it, which I did by scrambling down
the foriiy bank. Then I turnod round and
started back with a yell, as well I might, for
from almost beneath my feet thoro came a
most awful snarl.
"I had lit down almost upon the back of
the lioness, who had been Bleeping on the
slab where wo Btood to dry ourselves after
bathing. With n snarl nnd a growl, boforo I
could do anything, before I could even cook
my rifle, she had bounded right across tho
crystal pool and vanished over tho opposite
bank. It was all done in an instant, as quick
as thought.
" Hho had been sleeping on tho slab, and,
oh, horror! what was that sleeping besido
her? It was tho red remains of poor Jim
Jim, lying ou n patch of blood-stained rock.
" 'Oh 1 father, father ! ' shrieked Harry,
' look in tho water.'
" I looked. Thore, floating in tho centre
of tho lovely, tranquil pool, was Jim-Jim's
head. Tho lioness had bitten it right off,
and it had rolled down tho sloping rock into
tho water.
OnAPTEB III.
" Poor Jim-Jim ! Wo buried what was left
of him, which was not very muoh, in an old
bread-bag, and though whilst ho lived his
virtues woro not great, now that ho was gone
wo could have, wept ovor him. Indoed,
Harry did weep outright; while I registered
a quiet little vow on my own account that I
would lot daylight into that lioness before I
was forty-olglit hours oldor, if by any means
it could bo done.
" Well, wo buried him, and there he lies
whore lions will not trouble him any moro.
So thero is an end of the book of Jim-Jim.
"Tho question that now remained was,
how to circumvont his murderess. I knew
that she would be sure to return as soon as
she would bo hungry again, but I did not
know when sho would bo hungry. She had
left so littlo of Jim-Jim behind her that I
should scarcely expoct to Bee her tho next
night, unless indeed she had cubs. Still, I
felt that it would not bo wiso to miss the
chanco of her coming, so wo set about to
mako preparations for her reception. Tho
A 1 r.l-..- 4l.n -..a .11.1 ... 4n -t nnlti . !.
hush wall of the skerm by dragging n large
quantity of tho tops of thorn-trees togethor
and laying thorn ono on the othor
in such a fashion that the
thorn pointed outwards. This, after our
experience of tho fate of Jim-Jim, seemed a
very necessary precaution, since if where one
sheep can jump another can follow, as tho
Kafirs say, how much moro is this the caso
whero an animal bo activo and so vigorous as
tho lion is concerned ! Aud now came the
futhor question, how were wo to beguile the
lioness to return 7 Lions aro animals that
havo a strange knack of appearing when they
aro not wanted and keeping studiously out of
the way whon their presence is required.
" Harrv, who as I have said was an emi
nently ornctical boy, suggested to Pharaoh
that ho should go and Bit outside the skerm
in tho moonlight as a sort of bait, assuring
him that ho would havo nothing to fear, as
wo should certainly kill the lioness before
sho killed him. Pharaoh howevor, strangely
enough, did not seem to take to this sug
gestion. Indeed ho walked away, much put
out with Harry for having made it.
" It gavo me nn idea, however.
"'Well!' I Baid, 'there is that ox. He
must die sooner or later, so wo may as well
utilizo him.'
"Now, about thirty yards to tho left of
our skerm, if one stood facing down the hill
towards the river, was the stump of a tree
that had been destroyed by lightning many
years before, standlug'equiuistantly between,
but a littlo in front of, two clumps of bush,
which wore severally some fifteen paces
from it.
" Hero was the very place to tie
tho ox ; and accordingly a little before
sunset tho poor auimal was led forth
by Pharaoh and mado fast there, littlo
knowing, poor brute, for what purpose;
aud we commenced our long vigil, this time
without afire, for our object was to attract'
the lioness and not to scare her.
"For hour after hour wo waited, keeping
ourselves awake by pinching eaoh other it
is, by the way, remarkable what a difference
in the force of pinches requisite to the oo
casiaa exists in tho- mind -of -pinober and
pincheo, but no lioness came. The moon
waxed and the moon waned, and then at last
the moon went down, and darkness swal.
lowed up the world, but no lion came to
swallow us up. Wo waited till dawn, be.
cause we did not darn to go to sleep, and
then at last wo took such rest as wo oould
get.
" Thnt morning we went out shooting, not
because we wanted to, for wo were too de.
prested and tired, but because we had no
moro meat. For three hours or more wo
w andered about in a broiling sun looking for
something to kill, hut with absolutely no re
sults. For some unknown reason the game
had grown very scarce about tho Bpot, though
when I was there two years before every sort
of largo gome except rhinoceros and
olephant was particularly abundant.
The lions, of whom thero wero many,
alone remained. and I fancy
that it was the faot of the game they
live on having temporarily migrated that
mado them bo daring and ferocious. As a
general rule a lion is an amiable animal
enough if ho is left alone, but a hungry lion
To on and all wo hi dm ADAMaoa'g BOTAMlO OODUH
Baluk, uMtaniflu,ll .'
jji'almosi id d&geroiM M.'fc tmgiryiMm, JflH
Ono hears a great many different opitoc, -aH
expressed aa to whether or no the lion is re- ' HH
markable for his courage, but the result ot mj" '( IH
experience is that very muoh deponde upon 'V SI
tho state of his stomach. A hungry lion will V,:H
not stick at a trifle; whereas a full ode wilj '"v'HH
fleo at a very small rebuke VH
.," Well, we bunted all about, and nothing ilH
could 'we see, not even a duok or a bun rH
buck; and at last thoroughly tired and out of AaH
tompor we started on our way baok to camp, jtH
passing over tho brow of a stcepish hill to do T. H
so. Just as wo got over the ridge I froze up A'-'H
liko a pointer dog, for thore. about six bun- lH
dred yards to my left, his beautiful enrred ijM
horns outlined against tho soft blue of the $H
sky, I saw a noble Koodoo bull (Strepfioero MH
kudu). Even at that distance, for m yoa H
know my eyes aro very keen, I could die ;';
tinctly see thewhito stripes upon ita side iH
when the light foil upon it, and ita large and 'H
pointed ears twitoh aa tho flies worried it. ..lM
" So far to good ; but how were we-to A fH
at it ? It was ridiculous to risk a shot at that 'v'H
great dlstanoe, and yet both the ground tad n
the wind lay very ill for stalking. It seemed f.ijM
to me that the only chanco would be to mako 'ivH
a detour of at least a milo or more, and coma H
up on the othor sido of tho koodoo. I called rH
Harry to my side, and explained to him what
I thought would bo our best course, when ,"H
Buddculy, without any delay, tho koodoo . H
saved us any further trouble, by suddenly VtjH
starting off down tho hill liko a leaping 'H
rocket. I don't know what had frightened it. 'tM
certainly wo had not. Perhaps a hynna or n NBmaH
leopard a tigor as wo call it thore had sud- jjjH
denly appeared ; at any rate, off it went, run. Jl
niug slightly towards us, and I never sawn v'bbI
buck go faster. As for Harry, ho stood '
watchingtho beautiful animal's course. Prcs- H
ently it vanished behind n patch of bush, to ''H
emerge a few seconds later about five hun- aH
dred paces from us, on n Btrctoh of compara- 1
tlvely level ground thnt was strewn with iH
boulders. On it wont, taking tho boulders JH
in ita path in a succession of great bounds &l
that were beautiful to behold. As it did so, 'H
I happened to look round at Harry, and per- 'H
ceived to my astonishment that he had got H
his rifle on his shoulder. uH
" ' You foolish boy !' I ejaculated, ' surely H
yon are not going to 'and just at that mo- v-tjH
wont the rifle went off. liH
"And then I think I saw whnt was, in its Jl
way, one of the most wonderful things I ever
remember in my hunting experience. The) SiicH
koodoo was at tho moment in tho air, clearing ryM
n pile of stones with its fore logs tucked up ;3H
underneath it All in an Instant the legs VaH
stretched themselveBout in a spasmodio fath- H
ion, and it lit on them and they doubled up oH
beneath it. Down wont tho noble buck, H
down on to its head. For a moment it seemed 'V'aB
to be standing on its horns, its hind legs hbzb, '
in tho air, and then over it went and lay still. H
" ' Great Heavens!' I said, ' why, you've H
hit him! He's dead.' iH
" As for Harry, ho said nothing, but merely Vjl
looked scared, as well ho might. A man, let H
alone a boy, might have fired a thousand $Mt
such shots without ever touching the object, jH
whioh, mind you, was springing and bound 'j
ing over rocks quito 500 yards away, and hero 3H
this lad, taking a snap shot and .9H
merely allowing for elevation by in- 'jjjt
stinct, for ho did not put up his JnBH
sights, had knoekod tho bull over .as '':aH
dead as a door-nail. Well, I mado no further B
remark, tho occasion was too solemn for talk- H
ing, but merely led the way to where tho 91
koodoo lay. There he was, beautiful and dH
quite still: and there, high up, about half- jilLH
way down his neck, was n neat round hole. T1H
The bullet had severed the spinal marrow, ?!9
passing right through tbo vortebrm and away sK
on tho othor sido. v!
" It was already evening when, having out jjl
as muoh of the best meat as wo could carry IJHH
from the bull, and tied a red handkerchief H
and some tufts of grass to his spiral horns, 1H
whioh, by tho way, must nave been i'l
nearly five feet in length, in tho hops t.H
of keeping tbe jackals and aasvSgelS jflH
(.vultures) from him, wo finally got baek to H
camp, to find Pharaoh, who was getting vJt
rather anxious at our absence, ready to greet ,5H
us with tho pleasing intelligence that another , tJH
ox was sick. But even this dreadful bit of 4gH
intelligence could not dash Harry's spirits; H
the fact of the matter being thflt,ninorediblo H
as it may appear, I do vorily believe that in !ia
his heart of hearts ho set down tho death of ' uH
that koodoo to the credit of his own skill, fdH
Now, though the lad was a tidy shot enough, H
this of course was ridiculous, and I told him t''JjH
bo very plainly. , . i 31
"By-the time that we had finished our snp. jjsaH
per of koodoo steaks (which would barn H
been better if tbe koodoo had 'been a -IH
little younger), it was timo to get ready for-
Jim-Jim'B murderess again. All the after ,9l
noon Pharaoh told us the unfortunato ox had z3M
been walking round and round in-a circle as v.l
cattle in the last stage of redwater generally H
do. Now it had como to a standstill, and IjH
was swaying to and fro with its fJjH
head hanging down. So we tied 33H
him up to the stump of tho 'tH
tree as on tho previous night, knowing that :H
if the lioness did not kill him he would bo j 'E
dead by morning. Indeed I was afraid that '.H
he would bo of littlo uso as a bait, for a lion jjH
is a sportsmanlike animal, and, unless he is aH
very hungry, generally prefers to kill his ,rM
own dinner, though when once killed ho will
come back to It again and again. 'HIH
" Then wo repeated our experience of tho -JH
irovious night, sitting there hour after gH
tour, till at last Harry went fast $H
asloop. and even I, though I am 'JH
accustomed to this sort of thing, H
could scarcely keep my eyes open. Indeed I ' 1H
was just dropping off , when Pharaoh gave .J'-H
mo a shove. $l
" ' IAiten 1' he whispered. 4H
" I was all awako in a second, and listening H
with all my ears. From tho clump of bush to t
tho right of the lightning-shattered stump 'H
to which the ox was tied came a faint crack- SjM
ling noise. Presently it was repeated. Some. SH
thing was moving there, faintly and quietly 'fjH
enough, but Btill moving perceptibly, for la lM
the Intense stillness of the night any sound gH
seemod loud. flH
" I woke up Harry, who Instantly said, wH
1 Where is she ? where is she ?' and began to ''H
point his riflo about in a fashion that war 1
more dangerous to us and the oxen than tc H
any possible lioness. i'JBI
" ' Hush up ! ' I whispered savagely; and hsffK
as I did so, with a low and hideous growl a , 'n"H
flash of yellow light sped out' of the clump , ;
of bush, past tho ox, and into tlio correspond- lVB
ing clump upon tho other side. The poor !& ifl
sick brnte gave a sort of groan, and staggered THM
round and then began to tremble. I could tfjM
seo it do so clearly in the moonlight, whioh j&M
was now very bright, and I felt a brute for H
having exposed the unfortunate animal to iH
such terror as he must undoubtedly be) ;
undergoing. The lioness, for it was she. j
passed so quickly that we could not ,7H
even distinguish her movements, muoh less -f
shoot. Indeed at night it is absolutely use- jH
less to attempt to jhoot unless the object hi $3H
very close aud standing perfectly still, and H
then the light is so deceptive and It is so H
difficult to see tho foresight that the best shot Vt
will miss more often than he hlta.. ..- Mlfl
" ' She will be baok again presently,' X H
said ; ' look out, but for heaven's sake don't MM
fire unless I tell you to.'
" Hardly were the words out of my mouth mM
when back she came and again passed the ox , j&H
without striking him. .. .... , ,. H
" ' What on earth is sho doing f whispered -JM
Harry. 9
" 'Playing with it as a cat does a mouse, I 1M
suppobe. Blie will kill it presently. , 19fl
" As I spoko the lioness once more flashed .OH
out of the bush, and this time sprang right JSB
over the doomed ox. It was an exciting sight ylM
to see her clear him in the bright rnoonligbi, jH
as though it wero a trick that she had been iflB
taught. JrM
" ' I believe that she has escaped from a mm
circus, whispered Harry; 'it'a jolly to seo aW
her Jump.' (H
"I said nothing, but I thought to myself "ftH
that if it waa. Master Harry did not quite ap, JfV
predate the performance, and small blame to !
him. At any rate, his teeth were chattering JgH
a bit. 3H
" Then came a longish pause, and I began '4jH
to think that she musthavo gone away, whea fjjj
suddenly she appeared again, and with ono jjH
mighty bound landed right on to the ox, sad (yfa
struck it a frightful blow with her paw. &H
"Down it went, and lay on the ground. HB
She pot down her wicked-looking head, with ijH
a fierce growl of contentment. When aha pjfH
lifted her muzzle again and stood facing M 'JH
l&nUnuca on fourth raot.1 '