THE WILD FAUNA OF THE EMPIRE. 47 



Finding he could neither get rid of his diminutive 

 antagonist nor yet get at me, Leo evidently thought 

 he was giving himself a good deal of trouble for 

 nothing, and so went off sulkily in the direction 

 taken by his now dead companion. 



I was by this time feeling very faint and stiff, 

 and fearing I would swoon and fall from the tree, 

 I fastened myself to the branches as well as I could 

 with neckcloth and handkerchief. Presently I heard 

 voices, which heralded the arrival of my boys ; I 

 promptly called to them, and with their assistance 

 got down the tree ; it took an immense time, I was 

 suffering from a raging thirst and in great pain, and 

 we had four miles nearly to go to camp. Roughly 

 bandaging my shoulder we started off, carrying fire- 

 brands in case the lion should return. Never shall 

 I forget that walk ; often I fancied I heard stealthy 

 footfalls in the darkness, and it seemed in my 

 weakness and pain as if we should never arrive. I 

 put the distance down at 14 miles, thinking I w*S 

 estimating it very moderately, and even now it 

 seems difficult to realize that it was barely four. 

 However, all things have an end, and we got to the 

 Ws at last about midnight I suppose. The boys ran 

 °ff to get water, but owing to the usual pools being 

 ar y, it took a long time finding any, and I lay en- 

 suring untold agonies of thirst. When, at last, 

 tJ ie grateful liquid did come, I simply could not 

 stop drinking, and don't know why 1 did not do 

 m ysclf some serious injury. High fever set in 

 before morning. The boys went out at sunrise 

 and found my horse grazing quietly in the bush, 



