VAN ROO YEN ALARMED. 165 



entering the dry bed of the Motlautsi River about 

 two hours before sunrise, and I was asleep in the 

 waggon. It appears that Van Rooyen had gone 

 across the river in front of the waggons to ascertain 

 the nature of the opposite bank, which he had just 

 climbed when the roar of a lion resounded in his 

 ears, and he asserts that he was chased by a couple 

 of them and 'ran like a horse.' The latter part of 

 his statement, no doubt, is perfectly correct, and also 

 it was true that there had been two lions within a 

 yard or two of him at one time, as we saw by the 

 spoor at sunrise. I found the remains of a pallah 

 they had killed in the bed of the river, and the 

 spoor of the lions going away into the bush, and 

 set off to follow it with the dogs and the Dutchman. 

 The latter was in a great fright. I should have 

 thought nothing of it if he had candidly admitted as 

 much, but he thought to put me off by making 

 believe to follow the spoor, and then conveniently 

 losing it. The Kaffirs too are most terribly afraid 

 of lions, and will always lose the spoor ; indeed it is 

 almost useless to attempt to follow it with them, but 

 I had thought better things of a Dutchman calling 

 himself a ' hunter.' The fact is, for one man to go 

 alone, or only accompanied by Kaffirs, may be 

 dangerous, but for two white men with double- 

 barrelled rifles the danger is very slight ; as, in the 

 remote contingency of an attack, one could help the 

 other, but really Dutchmen are only a degree better 

 than Kaffirs. Still they are wonderfully useful about 

 a waggon, and my having this one with me takes a 



