282 HUNTING ADVENTURES. 



It appeared that when the unfortunate Hendric rose to drive 

 the ox, the lion had watched him to his fireside, and he h d 

 scarcely lain down when the brute sprang upon him and Jluyt.;r 

 (for both lay under one blanket), with his appaling, murderous 

 roar, and, roaring as he lay, grappled him with his fearful claws, 

 and kept biting him on the breast and shoulder, all the while feel- 

 ing for his necrt ; having got hold of which, he at once dragged 

 him away backward round the bush into the dense shade. 



As the lion lay upon the unfortunate man he faintly cried, 

 " Help me, help me ! Oh God ! men, help me !" After which 

 the fearful beast got a hold of his neck, and then all was still, except 

 that his comrades heard the bones of his neck cracking between 

 the teeth of the lion. John Stofolus had lain with his back to the 

 fire on the opposite side, and on hearing the lion he sprang up, 

 and, seizing a large flaming brand, he had belabored him on the 

 head with the burning wood ; but the brute did not take any 

 notice of him. The Bushman had a narrow escape ; he was not 

 altogether scatheless, the lion having inflicted two gashes in his 

 seat with his claws. 



The next morning, just as the day began to dawn, we heard the 

 linn dragging something up the river side under cover of the bank. 

 We drove the cattle out of the kraal, and then proceeded to in 

 spect the scene of the night's awful tragedy. In the hollow, 

 where the lion had lain consuming his prey, we found one leg of 

 the unfortunate Hendric, bitten ofT below the knee, the shoe still 

 on his foot ; the grass and bushes were all stained with his blood, 

 and fragments of his pea-coat lay all around. Poor Hendric ! I knew 

 tlie fragments of that old coat, and had often marked them hanging 

 in the dense covers where the elephant had charged after my un- 

 forliinate after-rider. Hendric was by far the best man I had 

 about my wagons, of a most cheerful disposition, a first-rate wagon 

 driver, fearless in tne field, ever active, willing, and obliging : hi* 

 toss t > us all was very serious. 



