588 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 



did not feel in the least degree nervous, lla^dng fortunately 

 great confidence in my own shooting ; but I must confess, 

 when the whole aflfair was over, I felt that it was a very 

 awful situation, and attended with extreme peril, as I had no 

 fi'icnd with me on whom I could rely. 



When the lioness sprang on Colesburg, I stood out from 

 the horses, ready with my second barrel for the first chance 

 she should give me of a clear shot. This she quickly did ; 

 for, seemingly satisfied with the revenge she had now taken, 

 she quitted Colesburg, and, slewing her tail to one side, 

 trotted sulkily past within a few paces of me, taking one 

 step to the left. I pitched my rifle to my shoulder, and in 

 another second the lioness was stretched on the plain a 

 lifeless corpse. In the struggles of death she half turned 

 on her back, and stretched her neck and fore arms con- 

 vulsively, when she fell back to her former position ; her 

 mighty arms hung powerless by her side, her lower jaw fell, 

 blood streamed from her mouth, and she expired. At the 

 moment I fired my second shot, Stofolus, who hardly knew 

 whether he was alive or dead, allowed the three horses to 

 escape. These galloped frantically across the plain, on 

 which he and Kleinboy instantly started after them, leaving 

 me standing alone and unarmed within a few paces of the 

 lioness, which they, from their anxiety to be out of the way, 

 evidently considered quite capable of doing further mischief. 

 Such is ever the case with these worthies, and with nearly 

 all the natives of South Africa. No reliance can be placed 

 on them. They will to a certainty forsake their master in 

 the most dastardly manner in the hour of peril, and leave 

 him in the lurch. A stranger, however, hearing these 

 fellows recounting their own gallant adventures, when sitting 

 in the evening along with their comrades round a blazing 

 fire, or under the influence of their adored " Cape smoke" 

 or native brandy, might fancy them to be the bravest of the 

 brave. Having skinned the lioness and cut off her head, we 



