250 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



which came growling down into the cover and joined 

 her comrades. This was the signal for my united pack 

 to make a bold sally into the center of the lions' den, 

 when they were savagely met by the three lionesses, 

 who rushed furiously up and down, knocking the dogs 

 about with just as much facility as three cats would 

 have disposed of the same number of mice. For sev- 

 eral minutes nothing was to be heard but the crashing 

 of the reeds, the growling of the lions, and the barking 

 and shrieking of the mangled pack : it was truly a most 

 painful moment to my feelings. Carey, who had come 

 up to assist, remarked to me that " there was an awful 

 massacree going on among the dogs;" and he was right. 

 Night now setting in put an end to this horrid work, 

 and, with feelings of remorse and deep regret at my 

 folly in not having at once called off my poor dogs, I 

 wended my way to camp. On numbering the slain, 

 three of my best hounds were found to have forfeited 

 their lives in the unequal contest, and seven or eight 

 more were very badly wounded, exposing the most 

 fearful gashes, from which several of them never re- 

 covered. While I was occupied with the lions my fol- 

 lowers were forming a kraal for the cattle. 



Before the day began to break next morning lions 

 were heard roaring to the west : accordingly, I rode in 

 that direction with Booi and a detachment of dogs, still 

 resolved to follow the king of beasts, notwithstanding 

 the disasters of the former day. Having ridden about 

 a mile, we reached the end of a long piece of cover, 

 averaging a hundred yards in breadth, where I at once 

 discovered the fresh spoor of a troop of lions. The dogs 

 took it up and followed on at a wary pace, the hair 

 bristling on their backs. On reaching the end of this 

 cover a second one appeared several hundred yards to 



