896 HUNTING ADVENTUEES. 



coolly right and left with my little rifle, I made the most glorioui 

 double shot that a sportsman's heart could desire, disabling them 

 both in the shoulder before they were even aware, of my position. 

 Then snatching my other gun from Carey, who that moment had 

 ridden up to my assistance, I finished the first lion with a shot about 

 the heart, and brought the second to a standstill by disabling him in 

 hia hind quarters. He quickly crept into a dense, wide, dark green 

 bush, in which for a long time it was impossible to obtain a glimpse 

 of him. At length, a clod of earth falling near his hiding-place, he 

 made a move which disclosed to me his position, when I finished him 

 with three more shots, all along the middle of his back. Carey swam 

 across the river to flog off the dogs ; and when these came through 

 to me, I beat up the peninsula in quest of the fourth lion, which had, 

 however, made off. We then crossed the river a little higher up, 

 and we proceeded to inspect the noble prizes I had won. Both lions 

 were well up in their years ; I kept the skin and skull of the finest 

 specimen, and only the nails and tail of the other, one of whose ca- 

 nine teeth was worn down to the socket with caries, which seemed to 

 have affected his general condition. On the 9th it rained throughout 

 the day, converting the rich soil on which we were encamped into 

 one mass of soft sticky clay. In the forenoon, fearing the rain would 

 render the vley (through which we must pass to gain the firmer 

 ground) impassable, I ordered my men to prepare to march, and leave 

 the tent with its contents standing, the point which I wished to gain 

 being distant only about five hundYed yards. When the oxen were 

 mspanned, however, and we attempted to move, we found my tackle, 

 which was old, so rotten from the effects of the rain, that something 

 gave way at every strain. Owing to this and the softness of the vley, 

 we labored on till sundown, and only succeeded in bringing one wagon 

 to its destination, the other two remaining fast in the mud in the 

 middle of the vley. Next morning, luckily, the weather cleared up, 

 when my men brought over the tent, and in the afternoon the other 

 two wagons. 



We followed up the banks of the river for several days with the 

 usual allowance of sport. On the 16th we came suddenly upon an 

 immense old bull muchocho rolling in mud. He sprang to his feet 



