DEATH-STRUGGLES. Io3 



with extreme peril, as I had no friend with me on 

 whom I could rely. 



" When the lioness sprang on Colesberg, I stood 

 out from the horses, ready with my second barrel 

 for the first chance she should give me of a clear 

 shot. This she quickly did; for, seemingly satis- 

 fied with the revenge she had now taken, she 

 quitted Colesberg, and, slewing her tail to one side, 

 trotted sulkily past within a few paces of me, taking 

 one step to the left. 1 pitched my rifle to my 

 shoulder, and in another second the lioness was 

 stretched on the plain. In the struggles of death 

 she half turned on her back, and stretched 

 her neck and fore-arms convulsively, when she 

 fell back to her former position ; her mighty 

 arms hung powerless by her side, her lower jaw 

 fell, blood streamed from her mouth, and she ex- 

 pired. At the moment I fired my second shot, 

 StofuhiSj who hardly knew whether he was alive or 

 dead, allowed the three horses to escape. These 

 galloped frantically across the plain, on which lie 

 and Klcinberg instantly started after them, leaving 

 me standing alone and unarmed within a few paces 

 of the lioness, which they, from their anxiety to be 

 out of the way, evidently considered quite callable 

 of doing further mischief. 



" Such is ever the case with these worthies, and 

 with nearly all the natives of South Africa. No 

 reliance can be placed on them. They will to a 

 certainty forsake their master in the must dastardly 

 manner in the hour of peril, and leave him in tin- 

 lurch. A stranger, however, hearing these fellows 



