346 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT chap. 



and exclamations of the men, as they painfully made 

 their descent, the presence of this other and far more 

 ominous sound impressed itself with peculiar sudden- 

 ness upon my mind. Although I both instinctively 

 and instantaneously knew its import, I could scarce 

 credit my ears, until frequent repetition and increase in 

 volume of the sound convinced me that the lion (for 

 such it was) was approaching nearer and nearer. 



The shadows, which filled the rift in the side of the 

 crater through which I had come, prevented me from 

 distinguishing anything in that direction ; and so, with 

 all senses keenly alert, I turned my eyes to the surface 

 lit by the moonlight. I even looked into the hollow 

 of the crater stretched far below, where I could mo- 

 mentarily distinguish gleams of light reflected back 

 from the shining sides of the water-bottles carried by 

 my men, who by that time were making their way across 

 the bottom. 



The peculiar formation of the place rendered it diffi- 

 cult to fix the position of a sound with any degree of 

 accuracy, but eventually I discovered that the lion 

 was approaching me from above ; and the rattle of slip- 

 ping and falling stones soon led me to decide upon the 

 direction from which to expect his coming. For a 

 moment, I thought of firing a shot into the air to 

 frighten him ; but I at once realized that such a shot 

 would be construed by my men in the crater as a sig- 

 nal; and, in addition, would not only arouse the natives 

 below, but interfere with the prompt procurement of 

 water. But I was unable to remain quiet ; so I seized 

 stones from the ground at my feet, and hurled them 

 vigorously in the direction from which I heard the lion 



