258 THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 



the distance by one -half. While doing so, two lions that 

 must have been behind the rocks got up, walked 

 leisurely away, gradually increasing their speed, till 

 they disappeared. 



Such conduct was evidently not going to be pursued 

 by her ladyship. With her eyes firmly fixed on us, and 

 her head flat upon the ground, she watched our move- 

 ments with an earnestness of expression that cannot be 

 found in any other animal, her tail all the time moving 

 gently to and fro. 



My companion quietly said, sotto voce, " Don't fire till 

 you see her ears twitch ; " and scarcely had he said so than 

 they were drawn back with a quick spasmodic motion. 

 " Now's our time," he said ; and a brace of bullets, one 

 in the shoulder and another in the head, turned her over 

 on her side, dead. Not a struggle occurred after the 

 shots were fired, and so simultaneously were the triggers 

 pressed that the two reports sounded as one. 



On returning to the wagons we soon discovered what 

 had made the oxen attempt to stampede, and the dogs 

 so uneasy during the night. Several lions the boys 

 said five had walked repeatedly round our encampment 

 at less than a hundred yards' distance. In spite of the 

 drizzling rain, there remained the spoor, a proof that 

 the lads' assertions could not be controverted. 



