26o A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



the boy along the oxen, which were tied up in the 

 yoke. Miller went with me too, and advancing 

 cautiously to the fore yoke, I could see the indistinct 

 dark form of the horse lying stretched upon the 

 ground about five-and-twenty yards off ; at the same 

 instant, too, I heard a low grating growl, which let 

 me know at once what the thing was that was on the 

 horse. It was a cloudy, misty sort of night, but yet 

 the light of the moon above seemed to pierce, and 

 partially illumine, what would otherwise have been a 

 pitchy darkness. As we advanced towards the horse, 

 I saw two lions rise from behind it and make off, 

 muttering curses upon our importunity as they went. 

 Miller wanted to fire, but as their distinct forms were 

 almost instantly lost in the gloom, I restrained him, 

 as I thought a shot might frighten them away 

 altogether, whereas if they were undisturbed they 

 might return and remain by the carcase until daylight, 

 when we might come to conclusions with them. 

 Acting upon this, I returned to the waggon, and had 

 not been there five minutes when I heard the lions at 

 the carcase again. Taking our karosses, Miller and 

 I now crept along the line of oxen, and lay flat on 

 our bellies by the fore yoke, watching for about an 

 hour. All this time the lions kept scrunching up the 

 bones and tearing at the flesh of my dead horse with- 

 out intermission, now and again grunting and growl- 

 ing, seemingly over disputed pieces of meat, and all 

 this time the oxen, the nearest of which was only 

 twenty-three measured paces from the horse's fore- 

 foot, kept quietly standing up and lying down, poking 

 one another with their horns, or catching their legs 

 in the " reims," ^ and the tore oxen kept ringing the 



' " Reim " is the soft though raw-hide tliong used universally in Soutli 

 Africa for tyino; up bullocks or horses. 



