ESCAPE OF A VIE BOER. 
207 
had shot had been devoured by some of his com¬ 
panions / 9 
Freeman further relates that, when at Manka- 
rana, in the Kat-river settlement, he was told by one 
of the chief men in the place, “ that he himself 
was once caught by a lion, and that his head was 
actually between the jaws of the enormous mon¬ 
ster; that he prayed God to have mercy on him, 
and spare him ; 39 and he added, “ Even though 
I never prayed before, I did so then most earnestly . 33 
And his prayer, he believed, was heard, for the ani¬ 
mal let go his hold, and left him. 
“ Lucas van Yeinsen, a Yie Boer,” Thomp¬ 
son tells us, “ was one morning, about daybreak, 
riding across the open plain, near the Little Fish 
Fiver, when, observing a lion in the distance, he 
endeavoured to avoid him by making a wide circuit. 
There were thousands of spring-boks scattered over 
the extensive flats; but the lion, from the open na¬ 
ture of the country, had been unsuccessful in hunt¬ 
ing. Lucas soon perceived that he was not disposed 
to let him pass without further parlance, and 
that he was rapidly approaching to the encounter. 
Being without his rifle, and otherwise little in¬ 
clined to any closer acquaintance, he turned off 
at right angles, laid the sjambah freely to his horse’s 
flank, and galloped for life. 
“ But it was too late. The horse was fagged, and 
bore a heavy man on his back. The lion was fresh, 
and, furious with hunger, came down upon him 
like a thunder-bolt. In a few seconds he overtook 
Lucas, and, springing up behind, brought man and 
