DEPRIVING THE LION OF HIS PKEY. 99 



some busied themselves in lighting a fire, the rest joined in a 

 sort of war-dance round the carcass, accompanied by the 

 most wild and fantastic gestures, totally disregarding the 

 proximity of the lion, who had only retreated a few paces. 

 As the fire began to blaze, indeed, we could distinctly see him 

 pacing to and fro among the bushes on the edge of the river's 

 bank. 



He, moreover, forcibly reminded us of his presence by cru- 

 elly lacerating a small dog belonging to one of the party 

 which had incautiously approached him too closely. By a 

 slight touch of his murderous paw he ripped up its body 

 from head to foot ; but, notwithstanding its entrails dragged 

 on the ground, the poor creature managed to crawl to our 

 fire, where it breathed its last in the course of a few seconds. 

 It was a most touching sight to see the faithful animal wag- 

 ging its tail in recognition of its master, who was trying to 

 replace the intestines and to stop the flow of the blood. 



The savage features of the natives, which received an un- 

 naturally wild character as the glare of the half-blazing fire 

 fell upon them ; the dying dog, with his wild master stoop- 

 ing despondingly over him ; the mutilated carcass of the ze- 

 bra, and the presence of the lion within a few paces of us, 

 presented one of the most striking scenes it was ever my for- 

 tune to witness. 



Expecting every moment that the lion would make a dash 

 at us, I stood prepared to receive him. More than once, in- 

 deed, I leveled my gun at him, and was on the point of pull- 

 ing the trigger ; but, being now sufficiently acquainted with 

 the character of the animal to know that, if I did not shoot 

 him on the spot, the attempt would probably prove the 

 death-signal to one or other of us, I refrained from firing. 



Contrary to my expectation, however, he allowed us to 

 cut up and to carry away the entire zebra without molest- 

 ing us in any way. During the process, the natives occa- 

 sionally hurled huge burning brands at the beast ; but these, 



