CHAP. II.] HIS ANTECEDENTS. 27 



We followed the waggon path till an hour after night- 

 fall, when the damp feel of the air, distant lights and 

 barking of dogs, announced that we had arrived at 

 Scheppmansdorf. Mr. Bam welcomed me most Idndly, 

 introduced me to his wife, gave me an out-house for my 

 boxes and myself, and we formed a very pleasant party 

 that evening, more especially as I heard that my horses 

 were quite well and fat. We talked over the lion, and 

 it seemed that he had been prowling about the station 

 continually; — that he was a well-known beast, who 

 usually hunted the lower part of the Swakop, and 

 had killed an immense number of cattle ; — many a time 

 have I heard them reckoned over, — fifty oxen, three 

 horses, one donkey, and innumerable calves and dogs. 

 He had often been chased but was too wary to be shot 

 — and so forth. We talked over the Hon at Mr. Bam's 

 till a late hour : he assured me that the animal would 

 prowl about that night, as he had done so every day 

 for a week, and that if I wanted to try my rifle, I 

 could track him in the morning. He and Stewartson 

 had taken my horses the day before to hunt him, 

 and they found him and gave chase ; at last he came 

 to bay, when they rode to the top of a sand-hill 

 immediately above him, where the beast not waiting 

 to be fired at charged them. Mr. Bam galloped off, 

 but Stewartson's horse being thoroughly blown, would 

 not stir a step, until the lion's head appeared over 

 the sand-hiU just above the astonished animal, who 

 probably had no idea of what was taking place, for 

 Stewartson seems to have been " craning " over the 

 ridge of the bank. I was glad to learn, not only on 



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