I/O A NARROW ESCAPE. 



gnu's legs, and the startled animal bounded off with 

 all speed. 



The father of the young man who accompanied 

 me was celebrated in this part of the country for his 

 exploits in lion-hunting. On one occasion, whilst 

 shooting with his son, the latter came unexpectedly 

 upon a lion, and fired, but missed his aim, when the 

 animal rushed fiercely upon him. The father, who 

 witnessed from a distance what had occurred, with all 

 that coolness and confidence which those only who are 

 accustomed to such encounters can command, came 

 to his son's assistance, and approaching within a 

 few yards of the spot where the lion lay with closed 

 eyes, growling over its victim, whom it seemed to 

 press closer to the earth as if fearful of losing its 

 prey, he levelled his piece and fired : the ball passed 

 through the animal's head, when it rolled over, and 

 after a few struggles expired, near the body of the 

 young man, who, to the inexpressible joy of his 

 parent, had sustained no serious injury, although it 

 was some time before he recovered from the terror 

 into which he had been thrown. On my remarking 

 that it was a surprising deliverance, " Yes," he re- 

 plied, emphatically, " God was there !" 



He presented me with the skin of a lion, which 

 had been shot by a party of Boors on the other side 

 of the Orange River, under the following circum- 

 stances. These men had started a small antelope, 

 and, on pursuing it into some high reeds, roused a 



