232 THE LI OX. 



My road, for the most part, lay through a dense 

 tamarisk coppice, and it was surprising to me how 

 I ever managed to thread the labyrinth. The hope 

 of saving human life, however, enabled mo to over- 

 come all obstacles. I might have been three or 

 four minutes in the brake, when, on coming to a 

 small opening, I suddenly encountered, and all but 

 stumbled over, a large black mass lying at my feet; 

 whilst, close to ray car, I heard the twang of a 

 bow-string, and the whizzing of an arrow. At the 

 same moment, and within a very few paces of where 

 I stood, I was startled by the terrific roar of a lion, 

 which seemed to shake the ground beneath me. 



O 



This was immediately followed by a savage and 

 exulting cry of triumph from a number of the na- 

 tives. 



Having recovered from my surprise, I found that 

 the dark object that had nearly upset me was one 

 of the natives stooping over a dead zebra, which 

 the lion had just killed, and I then learnt, for the 

 first time, to my great astonishment as well as re- 

 lief, that the wailings which had caused me so much 

 uneasiness, and which 1 imagined were those of a 

 dying man, had proceeded from this poor animal. 



The design of the natives, who, from the first, 

 I take it, well knew what they were about, was 

 simply to possess themselves of the zebra, in which 

 they had fully succeeded. Whilst some busied them- 

 selves in lighting a fire, the rest joined in a sort of 

 war-dance round the carcase, accompanied by the 

 most wild and fantastic gestures, totally disregard- 

 ing the proximity of the lion, who had only re- 



