CH. xii] WOUNDED WAUUIOHS 351 



man in front. Tlie warrior threw his spear ; it drove 

 deep into the ht'e, for, entering at one shoulder, it eanie 

 out of the opposite flank, near the thigh, a yard of steel 

 through the great body. Hearing, the lion struck the 

 man, bearing down the shield, his back arched ; and for 

 a moment he slaked his fury with fang and talon. Hut 

 on the instant I saw another spear driven clear through 

 his body from side to side ; and as the lion turned again 

 the briglit spear-blades darting toward him were flashes 

 ol" white flame. The end had come. He seized another 

 man, who stabbed him and wrenched loose. As he fell 

 he gripped a spear-head in his jaws with such tremendous 

 force that he bent it double. Then the warriors were 

 round and over him, stabbing and shouting, wild with 

 furious exultation. 



From the moment when he charged luitil his death 

 1 doubt whether ten seconds had elapsed — perhaps less ; 

 but what a ten seconds ! The first half-dozen spears 

 had done the work. Three of the spear-blades had gone 

 clean through the body, the points projecting several 

 inches ; and these and one or two others, including the 

 one he had seized in liis jaws, had been twisted out of 

 shape in the terrible death-struggle. 



We at once attended to the two wounded men. 

 Treating their wounds with antiseptic was painful, and 

 so, while the operation was in progress, I told them, 

 througii Kirke, that I would give each a heifer. A 

 Nandi prizes his cattle rather more than his wives, and 

 each sufferer smiled broadly at the news, and forgot all 

 about the pain of his wounds. 



Then the warriors, raising their shields above their 

 heads, and chanting the deep-toned victory song, 

 marched with a slow, dancing step around the dead 

 body of the lion, and this sa\'age dance of triumph 



