56 
THE LION. 
up my rifle and pistol, I bounded out of my bed, 
and soon found my suspicions confirmed by the 
dismal bowls and wailings of several terrified Bush¬ 
men, whom I met hastening towards my waggon for 
protection; and a poor youth, whom we had cap¬ 
tured the day before, was giving vent to his distress 
in piteous lamentations for the loss of his father, the 
Bushman Chief, whom one of the lions had, he said, 
destroyed. 
“ Calling to some of my people to follow, I hur¬ 
ried away in the direction pointed out by the lad. 
The night, which in itself was intensely dark, re¬ 
ceived an additional gloom from the shadow of 
a cluster of thick-boughed trees under which we 
were encamped. In order, therefore, to throw some 
light on surrounding objects, we set fire to the 
temporary huts, and commenced our search. M. 
Hahn, the missionary, who was of our party, also 
came to our assistance with a lanthorn. The dogs, 
meantime, kept up a furious barking; yet with the 
certain knowledge that the cowardly murderer was 
only a few paces from us, we could not obtain even 
a glimpse of him. 
‘ £ At length, to the horror of us all, we stumbled 
on the mangled remains of the unfortunate Bushman 
who had fallen a victim to the monster. One of his 
arms was bitten off at the shoulder, whilst his hand 
still convulsively clutched a part of his dress. This, 
and some portions of his intestines, was all that 
remained of a man, alive and quite unconscious of 
his fate only a very few minutes before. The sight 
was both shocking and sickening in the extreme; 
