252 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



me I beheld poor Vitberg, a valuable dog, and one that 

 was extremely attached to me, lying on the ground 

 utterly disabled, with his hip so fearfully mangled that 

 I was obliged to blow his brains out. 



A fourth time we drew the cover for the old lion, but 

 were still unsuccessful. Booi and I then skinned the 

 lioness, cut off her head, and returned to camp. Shortly 

 after reaching the wagons I observed a blue wildebeest 

 approaching my cattle, which I stalked and shot. The 

 afternoon set in with a most terrific hail-storm, such as 

 I had never before witnessed ; many of the stones were 

 from two to three inches in diameter. The storm came 

 on with a sound resembling the roaring of the sea : a 

 dense intervening fall of rain obscuring our view, we 

 were at a loss to think what it could be. The storm 

 sent our cattle and horses flying before it for miles 

 across the plain, and they were hardly recovered before 

 the sun was under. It blew a gale of wind throughout 

 the first half of the night, tremendous showers of hail 

 and rain succeeding one another in quick succession, 

 accompanied by appalling thunder and lightning. 



As the day broke we heard lions moaning to the west, 

 and I rode in quest of them, accompanied by Mr. O. 

 and Carey, with a detachment of dogs. In drawing 

 the cover beside which I had found the lions yesterday, 

 I came upon two young lions, one of which, standing 

 to give us battle, I finished with two shots : his com- 

 rade stole away, but after a sharp burst the dogs ran 

 him to bay, when I rode up, and, dismounting, flogged 

 the dogs off, and slew him with a single shot in the skull. 



The next morning, which was the 9th, for several 

 hours before the day diiwned, a lion stood roaring ter- 

 ribly on a bushy eminence within two hundred yards 

 of the wagons, and held west just as it became light, 



