THE FEAR OF MAN 203 



has recorded the pursuit of the post from Salisbury 

 by a lion and the loss of the mail-bags, which the 

 animal tore from the back of the pack-horse. 



Mr. Millais, who crossed the Nuanetsi River with 

 a team of eight donkeys to draw his waggon the 

 oxen being left behind on account of the proximity 

 of the " fly " country lost three in one night by a 

 lion attack, carried out with the utmost contempt for 

 human beings, whether white or black. He was 

 awakened by the lion's roar, and almost immediately 

 saw one of the tethered donkeys knocked over. It 

 was not five yards from the fire, but in the darkness 

 and dazzle of the fire he could not see the attacker. 

 " We knew instinctively that a lion had killed the 

 donkey, and was standing over him not five yards 

 from where we were, but it was hopeless to fire unless 

 we saw something, or at least could make certain of 

 his whereabouts." This odd scene continued for 

 some moments ; the actors being four or five black 

 men, two white men, a pony, seven live donkeys and 

 a dead one, and the lion standing over the latter, with 

 a fire partly lighting up the figures, until a couple 

 more donkeys broke loose. They rushed into a 

 mealie-field, and there the party heard the lion chasing 

 first one donkey and then another, as excited and as 

 little afraid as a dog chasing rabbits in a field of 

 barley. " At every bound the lion emitted a subdued 

 * boo-uff ' as his forelegs struck the ground, but the 

 two did not go far. There was presently a loud 

 scuffle, a crack, and the sound of a heavy body falling ; 

 then all was still." The lion chased the third donkey 



