THE LION 1N SOUTH AFRICA 335 
lay loose at no great distance from the others. My old shoot- 
ing horse was tied to the forewheel of the waggon, on the side 
nearest to the hill, whilst my old servant and waggon-driver, 
John, and two Kafirs, were sleeping under a shelter which 
they had made on the other side of the waggon. 
_ Thad sat up till a late hour talking with Dr. Edgelow, and 
when I at last went to bed in Mr. Graham’s hut the camp was 
perfectly quiet, everyone being fast asleep, an example which I 
was not long in following. I must have slept for some hours 
when I was suddenly awakened by the discharge of a rifle. 
Being inside the hut I awoke without any distinct idea of the 
direction in which the shot had been-fired ; but the first report 
was quickly followed by a second which I knew must have been 
fired from my waggon. Jumping up I at once made for the 
door of the hut and opened it just as a third shot was fired. 
‘What's the matter?’ I called out in Dutch to John. ‘It'sa 
lion, sir ; he has killed the loose ox,’ he answered, and again 
fired. Thistime the shot was answered by a low hoarse growl, 
the bullet, I suppose, having passed very close to the marauder. 
1 was soon down at the waggon alongside of John, but nothing 
was to be either seen or heard. The rain had ceased, but as 
the moon was now down, and it was very cloudy, the darkness 
was intense, and it was evident that nothing could be done till 
daylight. John felt sure the ox was dead, as he had heard it 
make a short rush and fall heavily twice, after which all was 
still, and as we could now hear nothing, we both thought the 
lion had been scared away from the carcase by the last shot. 
It is worthy of remark that, although this ox was seized and 
killed by a lion within thirty yards of fourteen other oxen that 
were tied to the yokes, not one of them evinced the slightest 
a ~ alarm, and the greater part of them lay quietly chewing the cud 
| till daylight, undisturbed either by the near proximity of the 
lion or by the shots fired by John. I suppose the lion had 
| come up below the wind, and never having scented him, they 
| did not realise what had happened. My old horse, however, 
i which was always very nervous and fidgetty in the presence of 
