xiii DEATH OF RUTHVEN 279 



behind, he instinctively put his hand there, when the 

 lioness, quitting her first hold, instantly seized it, and 

 was dragging him awav into the darkness, the poor 

 fellow all the while shrieking with terror and agony, 

 when Ruthven fired. The shot frightened the lioness, 

 and she released Impewan and disappeared in the 

 darkness. Immediately after Ruthven fired, two 

 other shots fell in quick succession. Dr. Crook, 

 awakened by the growling of the lioness, the shriek- 

 ing of the Kafirs, and the reports of the rifles, jumped 

 out of the waggon and ran to see what had happened. 

 At the fire where Ruthven had been sitting he found 

 Norris, one of the coloured drivers, crying over a 

 prostrate figure, which upon turning over he found 

 to be poor young Ruthven with halt his head blown 

 off. How this untoward accident happened will 

 never be exactly known, but there is no doubt that 

 it was owing to one or other of the drivers losing 

 their wits at the sudden and alarming nature of the 

 disturbance, and pulling off their guns at random. 

 1 think myself, that Ruthven must have been sitting 

 down when he fired, and that he then stood up 

 suddenly, bringing his head close to the muzzle of 

 one of their guns. He fell dead, poor fellow, with 

 his head in the fire. Having restored some sort of 

 order amongst the panic-stricken Kafirs, dressed the 

 wounds of those that had been bitten, and covered 

 poor Ruthven's body with a blanket, Dr. Crook 

 again turned in. At twelve o'clock one of the set 

 guns went off, but no other sound broke the stillness 

 of the night. At 2 a.m. the other gun went off, and 

 the Kafirs all said they heard a low groan at the same 

 time. As may be imagined, no one slept during the 

 remainder of this eventful night. At daylight the 

 doctor, hearing cries of " Gwasa ! Gwasa ! " (" Stab 



