LION-HUNTING AND LIONS 303 



disappeared no lions were there ! In vain he sent for his 

 horse and galloped backwards and forwards down one 

 bank, while Norris did the same on the other. The lions 

 had gone down the river under cover of the high bank, 

 and had got safely away to the forest. 



They were all, of course, determined not to spend such 

 another night as the last, so they set a gun trap for stray 

 visitors, and baited it with a large piece of meat. They 

 had just finished their preparations when a cry was heard 

 from one of the Kaffirs, and turning round Selous saw 

 poor Blucher come slowly and painfully up by way of the 

 river. He was covered all over with wounds, and. had 

 four holes in the loose skin of his neck, where the lion 

 had seized him. How he had escaped, or why he had 

 waited so long before returning to camp, no one ever 

 knew ; but he wagged his tail feebly at the voice of his 

 master. They did everything they could for him, and in 

 time his wounds healed ; but he never got really well, and 

 only grew thinner and thinner till one morning he was 

 found quite dead. 



