342 THE AUTHOR SHOOTS A LION. 



dilemma, kindly proposed to place some of his oxen at my 

 disposal as far as Barmen. I gratefully accepted the disin- 

 terested offer, and having obtained a few more oxen from the 

 Namaqua chief Jacob, at Scheppmansdorf, I prepared to 

 commence my journey with one of the wagons, leaving the 

 other to follow as soon as my cattle arrived. Rehoboth 

 having been appointed as the place of rendezvous, I started. 



My course, as on former occasions, lay by Tineas, Onanis, 

 and Tjobis, places w^ell known to the reader. I saw a good 

 deal of game, but was too much pressed for time to stop and 

 shoot. Until we reached Richterfeldt, little or nothing of 

 interest occurred. William and Bonfield, in rambling about 

 the hills one day, stumbled upon a lion, and it being the first 

 time they had ever seen the dreaded beast in his native state, 

 they became almost petrified with fear. 



I also had an opportunity of shooting one of these animals. 

 While one day pursuing some gemsboks, a lion unexpectedly 

 sprang out of a bush within forty or fifty paces of me. The 

 brute's sudden appearance somewhat startled me, but I had 

 so often been balked in my attempts to get a shot at lions 

 that I only hesitated for a moment. Accordingly, the lion 

 having turned round to look at me, I took a deliberate aim 

 at his forehead and fired, and, as good luck would have it, 

 with deadly effect. Indeed, so accurate was my aim that it 

 almost split his skull in two, and, as a matter of course, killed 

 him on the spot. 



My prize proved a full-grown male, but his hide was so 

 much worn and torn that I did not deem it worth the trouble 

 of preservation. 



Lions had been unusually numerous and daring during the 

 year. Mr. Rath's wagon-driver, Piet, a mighty Nimrod, and 

 his two foster-sons, had killed upward of twenty in the 

 course of a few months. And many and wonderful were 

 their escapes from these animals. 



One night the old man was awakened by a peculiar noise 



