THE LION. 
235 
the herd; but the next instant John Stofulus 
rushed into the midst of us, almost speech¬ 
less from fear, his eyes bursting from their 
sockets, and shrieked, “ The lion! the lion ! 
He has got Hendrick! He dragged him 
away from the fire beside me. I struck him 
with the burning brands upon his head; hut 
he wouldn’t let go his hold. Hendrick is 
dead! oh, Hendrick is dead! Let us take 
fire and seek him.” The rest of the people 
ran about moaning and yelling as if they 
were mad. I was angry with them for their 
folly, and told them that if they did not 
stand still and keep quiet the lion would 
have another of us, and that very likely 
there was a troop of them. I ordered the 
dogs, which were nearly all fresh, to be 
made loose, and the fire to be increased as 
much as could be. I then shouted Hend¬ 
rick’s name; but all was still. I then told 
my men that Hendrick was dead, and that 
a regiment of soldiers could not help him, 
and, hunting the dogs forward, I had every 
thing brought within my cattle-kraal, when 
we lighted our fires and closed the entrance 
as well as we could. It appeared that when 
the unfortunate Hendrick rose to drive in 
