LATER VISITS TO SOUTH AFRICA 127 



I turned in, when about midnight we were awakened sud- 

 denly by a tremendous noise, higher up stream, coming towards 

 us. Crashing trees and a general rushing were the only sounds 

 we at first heard, but presently the screams and trumpetings of 

 panic-stricken elephants mingled in the din. The herd came 

 tearing and breaking its way through the dense jungle straight 

 for us ; luckily they caught sight of the gleam of the fires and 

 made a sharp bend to the left, but the outsiders were within 

 a few yards of my waggon. On they passed into the darkness, 

 and in five minutes all was again still. By coaxing and 

 speaking to the horses, which were as usual tied two and two 

 to the waggon-wheels, we calmed them down ; but every ox 

 had broken his tethering rt'em, for, as luck would have it, they 

 were fastened to the trek-tow. The two teams with all the 

 spare beasts had vanished no one knew whither, and five hours 

 must pass before we could do anything to find out. 



Making the best of it I turned in again, and did not wake 

 until the sun rose, when John, putting his head into the 

 waggon, told me the oxen were on the flat, with a lion 

 after them. I was up in a moment, and unslinging a gun 

 from the side of the waggon tent, went in hot pursuit. 

 Interrupted in his pastime, the would-be cattle-lifter turned 

 quickly to bay, and as he gave me a fine open front shot at 

 fifty yards, I fired for his chest ; but I had been after elephants 

 the day before, and the heavy charges were still in the barrels. 

 For accuracy at the distance I had too much powder by half, and 

 the gun threw up, the ball striking his neck, and down he came 

 on me with a grunting bark. I waited till he was within twenty 

 yards and fired the second barrel, but it was a poor shot, the 

 gun kicking violently, and it struck the upper part of the near 

 foreleg. Two more bounds, snap went the bone, and pitching 

 heavily forward he lay six yards from me. I had run out in a 

 hurry, and had neither powder nor ball. John and another 

 man stood a short distance off. Keeping my full front to the 

 lion and never taking my eyes off for a moment a compliment 

 he returned in kind in an undertone I told one of the men to 



