114 AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



searched the open, brushy, and rock-strewn 

 country, trying to discover some specimen of 

 value. 



The lamp had just finished a half -circle to the 

 left and I had started to swing it back, when a 

 faint glimmer caught my eye. I held the lamp 

 steadily and looked again. Two fire balls, much 

 wider apart and quite different from anything 

 we had ever seen, stared at us. 



"What's that? "I asked. 



"Go on," replied the doctor. 



Cautiously and silently we approached. Larger 

 and larger grew the lights. My heart began to 

 bump against my ribs. Now we were within 

 shooting distance. 



"Let him have it!" whispered the doctor. 



"No," I said, "It's neither a springhaas nor 

 a fox; it's too large, it must be a lion." 



" Give it to him, anyway," he replied. 



"Not on your life! I'm not going to tackle a 

 lion in the dead of night with nothing but a shot- 

 gun and two loads of number four shot," I 

 whispered. 



"All right, then! Give me the gun, I'll shoot 

 him," said the doctor. 



Just at that moment the lights flared up, and 



