114 THE BONDS OF AFRICA 



the lion had fastened his teeth deep into the back 

 of his neck, and with one savage, powerful bite 

 had brought the great antelope down. It was 

 all so wonderfully silent and sudden that the 

 cubs who were crouching by their mother scarcely 

 realized that their sire had secured several 

 hundredweight of rich, fat meat in those momen- 

 tous seconds. But there the eland lay, and a 

 minute afterwards his great, ox-like body was 

 being torn in pieces by the cruel claws and long, 

 strong teeth. The first blushes of daybreak were 

 stealing across the eastern sky before the lions 

 decided that they had eaten their fill for one 

 night. Seven or eight hungry jackals were 

 patiently sitting around the carcase, on which 

 a considerable amount of meat still remained. 



Late one afternoon the two young lions awoke 

 from their slumbers to find that their mother 

 had deserted them; clearly she considered that 

 they were now old enough to look after them- 

 selves. She was not mistaken, and for months 

 the pair hunted together. Game was abundant, 

 and they grew in strength and experience day 

 by day. Of course the time came when they, 

 too, found their mates, and like all the rest of 

 creation their ties of blood kinship were weakened 

 when they took unto themselves the cares and 

 affections of fatherhood. In short, the brothers 

 separated, and we shall in future have to follow 

 the fortunes of but one of them. 



The life of the larger of the two was the 

 more eventful, and we will, therefore, see how 

 he fared in the sterner years of his life. One 

 morning he returned to the cave in which he 

 and his mate had taken up their abode to find 

 that she had presented him with two fine cubs. 



