284 EXPEDITION INTO [Chap. XXXII. 



the afternoon, to our surprise, we struck upon a 

 sudden bend of the Vaal River, which here winds 

 abruptly between willowed banks, round a narrow 

 peninsula, the neck of which is not more than six 

 hundred yards across. The cavalcade was in the 

 act of drawing up near some deserted bushman 

 wigwams, when three lionesses leaped out of a bush 

 immediately on our flank ; and Piet, who declared 

 that he could discern the head of a fourth, having 

 cracked his long whip, forth there stalked also a 

 venerable lion, evidently subdued and enfeebled by 

 years. A bullet discharged at him from the wag- 

 gon-box, having penetcated the patriarch's shoulder, 

 he thrust his hoary head into a bush and was ga- 

 thered unto his fathers. It was not, however, until 

 Richardson, with a party on horseback, had tested 

 his demise by repeated volleys, that his remains were 

 dragged out for inspection. 



My knee was still so painful from the effect of the 

 kick I had received, that I was unable to mount a 

 horse. The task of providing food for the followers 

 had therefore devolved principally upon my fellow 

 voyageur. Elands were still abundant, and as a 

 dernier resort, we had upwards of twenty sheep left, 

 notwithstanding the ravages committed on our herd 

 by wild beasts. The hardiness evinced by our little 

 flock became daily more the theme of admiration, 

 an instance of foot soreness rarely occurring during 

 the longest march. When it did, the cripple either 

 rode in the omnibus, or was placed at the disposal 

 of the fire- worshipper, at whose hands it had little 



