A NIGHT ALARM. 103 



pay the nominal monarch of the forest any attention 

 until a new moon will give us a chance of watching for 

 him in his nocturnal rambles. 



Feb. 2. A sudden outcry about midnight from those 

 who slept under the big tree, and shouts from Emanuel 

 of ' Sair ! sair ! bring gun, bring gun/ made us jump out 

 of our beds, seize our weapons, and rush to the spot. 

 Here all was darkness, for even the fires had been allowed 

 to go out ; but in the general confusion Emanuel could 

 be heard declaring that a big animal had passed close 

 to his head and was behind the tree, and begged of us 

 to shoot it. The dying embers of the fires were soon 

 blown into a flame, and then the big animal was looked 

 for, but of course not found ; and one began to believe 

 that Emanuel had had a nightmare, until sundry 

 haunches of ' venison ' suspended from ropes in the 

 * larder ' were seen to swing to and fro, and thus gave 

 evidence of something having passed beneath them. 



Looking at the assembled party, Bob was nowhere 

 to be found, but when called for a faint voice from high 

 up a tree answered, ' Yes, sir.' How he managed to climb 

 to his perch in the dark he could not understand, but 

 he gave the practical reason for doing so that he thought 

 he could see Emanuel eaten by a lion safely from there. 

 Albert's poor nerves were so shaken that the only relief 

 he could find was by having two good fits of crying. 

 No sleep after this event, for the whole camp became 



