56 THE LION. 



up my rifle and pistol, I bounded out of my bed, 

 and soon found my suspicions confirmed by the 

 dismal bowls and wailings of several terrified Bush- 

 men, wbom I met bastening towards my waggon for 

 protection ; and a poor youtb, wbom we bad cap- 

 tured tbe day before, was giving vent to bis distress 

 in piteous lamentations for tbe loss of bis fatber, tbe 

 Busbman Cbief, wbom one of tbe lions bad, be said, 

 destroyed. 



"Calling to some of my people to follow, I hur- 

 ried away in tbe direction pointed out by tbe lad. 

 The night, wbicb in itself was intensely dark, re- 

 ceived an additional gloom from tbe shadow of 

 a cluster of tbick-bougbed trees under whicb we 

 were encamped. In order, therefore, to throw some 

 light on surrounding objects, we set fire to the 

 temporary huts, and commenced our search. M. 

 Habn, the missionary, who was of our party, also 

 came to our assistance witli a lantborn. Tbe dogs, 

 meantime, kept up a furious barking ; } T et with the 

 certain knowledge that the cowardly murderer was 

 only a few paces from us, we could not obtain even 

 a glimpse of him. 



" At length, to tbe horror of us all, we stumbled 

 on the mangled remains of the unfortunate Bushman 

 who had fallen a victim to the monster. One of bis 

 arms was bitten off at tbe shoulder, whilst his hand 

 still convulsively clutched a part of his dress. This, 

 and some portions of bis intestines, was all that 

 remained of a man, alive and quite unconscious of 

 bis fate only a very few minutes before. The sight 

 was both shocking and sickening in the extreme; 



