

LEO AND JUNO. 59 



as if deprived of joints ; but a three-legged lioness 

 is not incapable of doing mischief; and so William 

 ought, for at only a few paces he administered 



coup -de-grace, aimed in the region of the ear, 



ich put a favourable termination to a short but 

 very exciting scene. 



My new acquaintances, the Makalakas, I learnt, 

 were herdsmen of Lubengulo, king of the Matabeles, 

 who, when driving their cattle up to kraal them for 

 the night, disturbed a lioness ; a Bushman who was 

 with them fired a poisoned arrow at her, which, it 

 was believed, had taken effect. As a scratch from 

 one of these pigmy weapons is almost certain to 

 produce death in a few hours, my new friends had 

 gone at dawn to search for their anticipated prey, 

 but, losing the spoor and making sundry efforts 

 to regain it, they unexpectedly discovered the 

 youngsters in a hole scooped in the bank of a dry 

 watercourse, and they at once appropriated them. 



It was fortunate they encountered us when they 

 d, or Madame la Mere would have made them 

 regret their temerity. On examining the lioness, 

 no indication was to be seen that she had been 

 struck by the arrow of the Bushman ; either the 

 bowman had missed her, or this was not the animal 

 he had shot at. A couple of pounds of gunpowder 

 and four bars of lead were treasures too valuable 

 for natives to refuse, so Leo and Juno became my 

 property. The herdsmen, not satisfied with the 



