154 DAYS AND NIGHTS BY THE DESERT. 



evident that we were surrounded and if our anta- 

 gonists only acted in concert our position must have 

 become hazardous in the extreme. But if there was 

 danger from without, there was no small amount of 

 it within the kraal, for the cattle were rushing round 

 it, evidently searching for a weak place to burst 

 through. 



It was not without some risk of being run over, 

 and possibly trampled to death, that William and 

 myself patrolled the edges of our fence, but the 

 night was too dark to see any object ten paces 

 from us ; for a lion, even at that distance, is not 

 easily recognized on * a comparatively clear night, 

 so closely does its colour, after dusk, approximate 

 to the ground and herbage. However, we fired 

 a few shots random ones they might almost be 

 called. Still, I think my man hit something, judg- 

 ing from the yell of one of the enemy, that followed 

 immediately upon the report of his gun. 



All the natives have wonderfully good eyes, but 

 I never met any who had powers of sight equal to 

 William. Frequently he has pointed out to me 

 game which I failed to see with the naked eye, 

 even after* I had distinctly marked its position with 

 my field-glass. 



Well, what with the young lions squealing, the 

 old ones roaring, and the bullocks, goats, and dogs 

 giving expression to their feelings in their respec- 

 tive ways, we all had a lively time of it till day- 



