58 DAYS AND NIGHTS BY THE DESERT. 



awkwardness of their position, a roar was heard in 

 the distance, which caused the Makalakas to pick 

 up their treasures and rapidly gain a position behind 

 William and myself. " By gum," exclaimed my 

 henchman, " here comes ma ! " And scarcely had he 

 delivered his brief assertion than her ladyship made 

 her appearance, trotting hastily towards us. When 

 seventy or eighty yards off, she halted and uttered a 

 suppressed growl, different in intonation from any that 

 I had ever heard emanate from any of her family. 

 Up to this time the little wee beasties had been 

 models of propriety, but the voice of their dam had 

 in a moment transformed them into fiends incarnate, 

 for they scratched and bit their possessors with 

 such determination and energy, at the same time 

 squealing, that the Makalakas were fain to crush 

 them on the ground the better to enable them to 

 retain their possession. The three natives had 

 a busy time of it in accomplishing their purpose, 

 but William and I had other and more important 

 matters to attend to, for the moment the lioness 

 heard the screams of her offspring, she charged upon 

 us, open-mouthed and almost flying with velocity. 



My first shot staggered her and brought her to 

 the ground, but in an instant she regained her feet, 

 and, nothing daunted by the check she had received, 

 continued her headlong course. Again I pulled the 

 trigger, and down she fell, her shoulder smashed, 

 for her left foreleg dangled and doubled under her 



