DEATH-STRUGGLES. 
133 
with extreme peril, as I had no friend with me on 
whom I could rely. 
“ When the lioness sprang on Colesberg, I stood 
out from the horses, ready with my second barrel 
for the first chance she should give me of a clear 
shot. This she quickly did; for, seemingly satis¬ 
fied with the revenge she had now taken, she 
quitted Colesberg, and, slewing her tail to one side, 
trotted sulkily past within a few paces of me, taking 
one step to the left. I pitched my rifle to my 
shoulder, and in another second the lioness w^as 
stretched on the plain. In the struggles of death 
she half turned on her back, and stretched 
her neck and fore-arms convulsively, when she 
fell back to her former position; her mighty 
arms hung powerless by her side, her lower jaw 
fell, blood streamed from her mouth, and she ex¬ 
pired. At the moment I fired my second shot, 
Stofulus, who hardly knew whether he was alive or 
dead, allowed the three horses to escape. These 
galloped frantically across the plain, on which he 
and Kleinberg instantly started after them, leaving 
me standing alone and unarmed within a few paces 
of the lioness, which they, from their anxiety to be 
out of the way, evidently considered quite capable 
of doing further mischief. 
cc Such is ever the case with these worthies, and 
with nearly all the natives of South Africa. No 
reliance can be placed on them. They will to a 
certainty forsake their master in the most dastardly 
manner in the hour of peril, and leave him in the 
lurch. A stranger, however, hearing these fellows 
