THE LION. 97 
instant to see one or more of them torn 
pieces ; nor, though the rest of the party 
standing within fifty paces, with their 
cocked and levelled, durst we fire for 
j. assistance. One was lying under the 
s paw, and the other scrambling towards 
in such a way as to intercept our aim at 
All this passed far more rapidly than I 
described it. But luckily the lion, after 
®*'®adily surveying us for a few seconds, seem- 
Willing to be quit with us on fair terms ; 
with a fortunate forbearance, for which he 
with but an ungrateful recompense, turn- 
Calmly away, and, driving the snarling dogs 
. ® fats from his heels, bounded over the ad- 
thicket like a cat over a footstool, 
^nring brakes and bushes, twelve or fifteen 
as readily as if they had been tufts 
1 grass, and, abandoning the jungle, retreated 
""nrds the mountains. 
•^fter ascertaining the state of our rescued 
^OL. 
II. 
H 
