AN ALARM. 211 



around the cheerful blaze ; then tied our horses as near 

 to it as we conveniently could; and having directed the 

 Parsees to keep a strict watch around, sat down to eat a 

 hasty supper, with our trusty rifles laid across our knees. 

 This being concluded, the Parsees were permitted to eat, 

 while we kept guard. Occasionally, a lion's awful roar, 

 sounding as if the animal was within a few hundred yards 

 of our camp, startled us to keener vigilance, and we could 

 see that our horses were very uneasy at the proximity of 

 such ferocious foes. Once I thought that a shout and the 

 report of a rifle might serve the purpose of keeping the 

 animals at a greater distance, and, accordingly, both rang 

 on the air. But the roars continued, and we began to 

 feel the pressing necessity of keeping our eyes open all 

 night. I mentioned this to Mr. Barrill, and after some 

 deliberation, he decided that waking alone, we could be 

 secure. 



Accordingly, we placed the Parsees upon guard, with 

 orders to fire at even the suspicion of an approaching animal 

 of any size, and sat down to talk away the night. Mr. 

 Barrill, I have said, excelled in conversation. He could 

 wander "' from gay to grave, from lively to severe," in a 

 winning way, to which I could have listened day or night. 

 Under such an influence I was forgetting the lapse of 

 moments ; and even the awful concert of the woods. I 

 was in the midst of my third pipe, when a hist from one 



