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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hunting the Lions, by R.M. Ballantyne
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Hunting the Lions
+
+Author: R.M. Ballantyne
+
+Release Date: June 7, 2007 [EBook #21739]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUNTING THE LIONS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+HUNTING THE LIONS, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+BEGINS TO UNFOLD THE TALE OF THE LIONS BY DESCRIBING THE LION OF THE
+TALE.
+
+We trust, good reader, that it will not cause you a feeling of
+disappointment to be told that the name of our hero is Brown--Tom Brown.
+It is important at the beginning of any matter that those concerned
+should clearly understand their position, therefore we have thought fit,
+even at the risk of throwing a wet blanket over you, to commence this
+tale on one of the most romantic of subjects by stating--and now
+repeating that our hero was a member of the large and (supposed to be)
+unromantic family of "the Browns."
+
+A word in passing about the romance of the family.  Just because the
+Brown family is large, it has come to be deemed unromantic.  Every one
+knows that two of the six green-grocers in the next street are Browns.
+The fat sedate butcher round the corner is David Brown, and the milkman
+is James Brown.  The latter is a square-faced practical man, who is
+looked up to as a species of oracle by all his friends.  Half a dozen
+drapers within a mile of you are named Brown, and all of them are shrewd
+men of business, who have feathered their nests well, and stick to
+business like burrs.  You will certainly find that several of the
+hardest-working clergymen, and one or more of the city missionaries, are
+named Brown; and as to Doctor Browns, there is no end of them!  But why
+go further?  The fact is patent to every unprejudiced person.
+
+Now, instead of admitting that the commonness of the name of Brown
+proves its owners to be unromantic, we hold that this is a distinct
+evidence of the deep-seated romance of the family.  In the first place,
+it is probable that their multitudinosity is the result of romance,
+which, as every one knows, has a tendency to cause men and women to fall
+in love, and marry early in life.  Brown is almost always a good husband
+and a kind father.  Indeed he is a good, steady-going man in all the
+relations of life, and his name, in our mind at least, is generally
+associated with troops of happy children who call him "daddy," and
+regard him in the light of an elephantine playmate.  And they do so with
+good reason, for Brown is manly and thorough-going in whatever he
+undertakes, whether it be the transaction of business or romping with
+his children.
+
+But, besides this, the multitudinosity of the Browns cuts in two
+directions.  If there are so many of them green-grocers, butchers, and
+milkmen--who without sufficient reason are thought to be unromantic--it
+will be found that they are equally numerous in other walks of life; and
+wherever they walk they do so coolly, deliberately, good-humouredly, and
+very practically.  Look at the learned professions, for instance.  What
+a host of Browns are there.  The engineers and contractors too, how they
+swarm in their lists.  If you want to erect a suspension bridge over the
+British Channel, the only man who is likely to undertake the job for you
+is Adam Brown, C.E., and Abel Brown will gladly provide the materials.
+As to the army, here their name is legion; they compose an army of
+themselves; and they are all enthusiasts--but quiet, steady-going, not
+noisy or boastful enthusiasts.  In fact, the romance of Brown consists
+very much in his willingness to fling himself, heart and soul, into
+whatever his hand finds to do.  The man who led the storming party, and
+achieved immortal glory by getting himself riddled to death with
+bullets, was Lieutenant Brown--better known as Ned Brown by his brother
+officers, who could not mention his name without choking for weeks after
+his sad but so-called "glorious" fall.  The other man who accomplished
+the darling wish of his heart--to win the Victoria Cross--by attaching a
+bag of gunpowder to the gate of the fortress and blowing it and himself
+to atoms to small that no shred of him big enough to hang the Victoria
+Cross upon was ever found, was Corporal Brown, and there was scarcely a
+dry eye in the regiment when he went down.
+
+Go abroad among the barbarians of the earth, to China, for instance, and
+ask who is yonder thick-set, broad-chested man, with the hearty
+expression of face, and the splendid eastern uniform, and you will be
+told that he is Too Foo, the commander-in-chief of the Imperial forces
+in that department.  If, still indulging curiosity, you go and introduce
+yourself to him, he will shake you heartily by the hand, and, in good
+English, tell you that his name is Walter Brown, and that he will be
+charmed to show you something of Oriental life if you will do him the
+favour to take a slice of puppy dog in his pagoda after the review!  If
+there is a chief of a hill tribe in Hindustan in want of a prime
+minister who will be able to carry him through a serious crisis, there
+is a Brown at hand, who speaks not only his own language, but all the
+dialects and languages of Hindustan, who is quite ready to assume
+office.  It is the same at the diggings, whether of Australia,
+California, or Oregon; and we are persuaded that the man whose
+habitation is nearest to the pole at this moment, whether north or
+south, is a Brown, if he be not a Jones, Robinson, or Smith!
+
+Need more be said to prove that this great branch of the human family is
+truly associated with all that is wild, grand, and romantic?  We think
+not; and we hope that the reader is now somewhat reconciled to the
+fact--which cannot be altered, and which we would not alter if we
+could--that our hero's name is Tom Brown.
+
+Tom was the son of a settler at the Cape of Good Hope, who, after
+leading the somewhat rough life of a trader into the interior of Africa,
+made a fortune, and retired to a suburban villa in Cape Town, there to
+enjoy the same with his wife and family.  Having been born in Cape Town,
+our hero soon displayed a disposition to extend his researches into the
+unknown geography of his native land, and on several occasions lost
+himself in the bush.  Thereafter he ran away from school twice, having
+been seized with a romantic and irresistible desire to see and shoot a
+lion!  In order to cure his son of this propensity, Mr Brown sent him
+to England, where he was put to school, became a good scholar, and a
+proficient in all games and athletic exercises.  After that he went to
+college, intending, thereafter, to return to the Cape, join his father,
+and go on a trading expedition into the interior, in order that he might
+learn the business, and carry it on for himself.
+
+Tom Brown's mother and sisters--there were six of the latter--were
+charming ladies.  Everybody said what pleasant people the Browns were--
+that there was no nonsense about them, and that they were so practical,
+yet so lively and full of spirit.  Mrs Brown, moreover, actually held
+the belief that people had souls as well as bodies, which required
+feeding in order to prevent starvation, and ensure healthy growth!  On
+the strength of this belief she fed her children out of that
+old-fashioned, yet ever new, volume, the Bible, and the consequence was,
+that the Miss Browns were among the most useful members of the church to
+which they belonged, a great assistance to the clergymen and
+missionaries who visited those regions, and a blessing to the poor of the
+community.  But we must dismiss the family without further remark, for
+our story has little or nothing to do with any member of it except Tom
+himself.
+
+When he went to school in England, Tom carried his love for the lion
+along with him.  The mere word had a charm for him which he could not
+account for.  In childhood he had dreamed of lion-hunting; in riper
+years he played at games of his own invention which had for their chief
+point the slaying or capturing of lions.  Zoological gardens and "wild
+beast shows" had for him attractions which were quite irresistible.  As
+he advanced in years, Richard of the Lion-heart became his chief
+historical hero; Androcles and the lion stirred up all the enthusiasm of
+his nature.  Indeed it might have been said that the lion-rampant was
+stamped indelibly on his heart, while the British lion became to him the
+most attractive myth on record.
+
+When he went to college and studied medicine, his imagination was
+sobered down a little; but when he had passed his examinations and was
+capped, and was styled Dr Brown by his friends, and began to make
+preparations for going back to the Cape, all his former enthusiasm about
+lions returned with tenfold violence.
+
+Tom's father intended that he should study medicine, not with a view to
+practising it professionally, but because he held it to be very
+desirable that every one travelling in the unhealthy regions of South
+Africa should possess as much knowledge of medicine as possible.
+
+One morning young Dr Brown received a letter from his father which ran
+as follows:--
+
+  "MY DEAR TOM,--A capital opportunity of letting you see a little of
+  the country in which I hope you will ultimately make your fortune has
+  turned up just now.  Two officers of the Cape Rifles have made up
+  their minds to go on a hunting excursion into the interior with a
+  trader named Hicks, and want a third man to join them.  I knew you
+  would like to go on such an expedition, remembering your leaning in
+  that direction in days of old, so I have pledged you to them.  As they
+  start three months hence, the sooner you come out the better.  I
+  enclose a letter of credit to enable you to fit out and start at once.
+  Your mother and sisters are all well, and send love.--YOUR
+  AFFECTIONATE FATHER, J.B."
+
+Tom Brown uttered a wild cheer of delight on reading this brief and
+business-like epistle, and his curious landlady immediately answered to
+the shout by entering and wishing to know "if he had called and if he
+wanted hanythink?"
+
+"No, Mrs Pry, I did not call; but I ventured to express my feelings in
+regard to a piece of good news which I have just received."
+
+"La, sir!"
+
+"Yes, Mrs Pry, I'm going off immediately to South Africa to hunt
+lions."
+
+"You _don't_ mean it, sir!"
+
+"Indeed I do, Mrs Pry; so pray let me have breakfast without delay, and
+make up my bill to the end of the week; I shall leave you then.  Sorry
+to part, Mrs Pry.  I have been very comfortable with you."
+
+"I 'ope so, sir."
+
+"Yes, very comfortable; and you may be assured that I shall recommend
+your lodgings highly wherever I go--not that there is much chance of my
+recommendation doing you any good, for out in the African bush I sha'n't
+see many men who want furnished lodgings in London, and wild beasts are
+not likely to make inquiries, being already well provided in that way at
+home.  By the way, when you make up your bill, don't forget to charge me
+with the tumbler I smashed yesterday in making chemical experiments, and
+the tea-pot cracked in the same good cause.  Accidents will happen, you
+know, Mrs Pry, and bachelors are bound to pay for 'em."
+
+"Certainly, sir; and please, sir, what am I to do with the cupboard full
+of skulls and 'uman bones downstairs?"
+
+"Anything you choose, Mrs Pry," said Tom, laughing; "I shall trouble my
+head no more with such things, so you may sell them if you please, or
+send them as a valuable gift to the British Museum, only don't bother me
+about them; and do take yourself off like a good soul, for I must reply
+to my father's letter immediately."
+
+Mrs Pry retired, and Tom Brown sat down to write a letter to "J.B." in
+which he briefly thanked him for the letter of credit, and assured him
+that one of the dearest wishes of his heart was about to be realised,
+for that still--not less but rather more than when he was a runaway
+boy--his soul was set upon hunting the lions.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+SPORT BEGINS IN EARNEST.
+
+Time, which is ever on the wing, working mighty changes in the affairs
+of man, soon transported our hero from Mrs Pry's dingy little back
+parlour in London to the luxuriant wilds of Africa.
+
+There, on the evening of a splendid day, he sat down to rest under the
+grateful shade of an umbrageous tree, in company with Major Garret and
+Lieutenant Wilkins, both of whom had turned out to be men after Tom
+Brown's own heart.  They were both bronzed strapping warriors, and had
+entered those regions not only with a view to hunting lions, but also
+for the purpose of making collections of the plants and insects of the
+country, the major being a persevering entomologist, while the
+lieutenant was enthusiastically botanical.  To the delight of these
+gentlemen they found that Tom, although not deeply learned on these
+subjects, was nevertheless extremely intelligent and appreciative.
+
+The major was very tall, thin; strong, wiry, and black-bearded.  The
+lieutenant was very short, thickset, deep-chested, and powerful.  Tom
+himself was burly, ruddy, broad, and rather above middle size.
+
+"Now this is what I call real felicity," observed the major, pulling out
+a pipe which he proceeded to fill.  Tom Brown followed his example, and
+Bob Wilkins, who was not a smoker, and had a somewhat facetious
+disposition, amused himself by quizzing his comrades and carving a piece
+of wood with his penknife.
+
+"Does the real felicity, major, result from the tobacco or the
+surrounding circumstances?" asked Wilkins.
+
+"From both, Bob," replied the other with a smile, "and you need not
+spoil my felicity by repeating your well-known set of phrases about the
+evils of smoking, for I know them all by heart, and I dare say so does
+Tom."
+
+"Impossible," said Wilkins; "I have not yet been two weeks in his
+company; he cannot, therefore, have heard a tithe of the irresistible
+arguments which I bring to bear on that pernicious practice, and which I
+hope some day to throw into shape and give to the public in the form of
+a bulky volume."
+
+"Which will end in smoke," interrupted the major.
+
+"In a literal sense, too," added Tom Brown, "for it will be sold as
+waste-paper and be made up into matches."
+
+"We shall see," retorted Wilkins, cutting carefully round the right
+nostril of a baboon's head which he had carved on the end of a
+walking-stick; "meanwhile, major, as you are better acquainted than we
+are with this outlandish country, and have taken on yourself the
+leadership of the party, will you condescend to give Tom Brown and me
+some idea of your intended movements--that is, if smoke and felicity
+will permit you to do so?"
+
+"With pleasure, my dear fellow," said the major puffing vigorously for a
+few moments to get his pipe well alight.  "It was my intention to make
+for Big Buffalo's Village, or kraal as they call it here, and, getting
+the assistance of some of his sable Majesty's subjects, hunt the country
+in his neighbourhood, but I heard from Hicks this morning, before we
+left the camp, that a band of traders, at a kraal not far from us, are
+about to start for the Zulu country, and it struck me that we might as
+well join forces and advance together, for I prefer a large party to a
+small one--there is generally more fun to be got out of it."
+
+"Would it be well to tie ourselves to any one?" asked Tom Brown.  "I
+have always found that a small party is more manageable than a large one
+however, I do but throw out the suggestion in all humility."
+
+"He shall not necessarily be tied to them," replied the major,
+re-lighting his pipe, which had a bad habit of going out when he talked;
+"we may keep company as long as we find it agreeable to do so, and part
+when we please.  But what say you to the change of plan?  I think it
+will bring us into a better hunting country."
+
+"Whatever you think best, major, will please me," said Tom, "for I'm
+ignorant of everything here and place myself entirely under your
+directions."
+
+"And I am agreeable," added Bob Wilkins.
+
+"You are neither agreeable nor grammatical," said the major.
+
+"Well, if you insist on it, I'm agreed.  But do put your pipe out, Tom,
+and let us resume our march, for we have a long way to go, and much work
+to do before reaching the camp to-night."
+
+Thus admonished, Tom Brown made an extinguisher of the end of his
+forefinger, put his short clay pipe in his waistcoat pocket, and,
+shouldering his rifle, followed his companions into the forest, on the
+edge of which they had been resting.
+
+The country through which they passed was extremely beautiful,
+particularly in the eyes of our hero, for whom the magnificence of
+tropical vegetation never lost its charms.  The three sportsmen had that
+morning left their baggage, in a wagon drawn by oxen, in charge of Hicks
+the trader, who had agreed to allow them to accompany him on a trading
+expedition, and to serve them in the capacity of guide and general
+servant.  They had made a detour through the forest with a party of six
+natives, under the guidance of a Caffre servant named Mafuta, and were
+well repaid for the time thus spent, by the immense variety of insects
+and plants which the naturalists found everywhere.  But that which
+delighted them most was the animal life with which the whole region
+teemed.  They saw immense herds of wolves, deer of various kinds,
+hyenas, elands, buffalo, and many other wild beasts, besides innumerable
+flocks of water-fowl of all kinds.  But they passed these unmolested,
+having set their hearts that day on securing higher game.  As Wilkins
+said, "nothing short of a lion, an elephant, a rhinoceros, or
+hippopotamus" would satisfy them and that they had some chance of
+securing one or more of these formidable brutes was clear, because their
+voices had been several times heard, and their footprints had been seen
+everywhere.
+
+About an hour after resuming their walk, the major went off in hot
+pursuit of an enormous bee, which he saw humming round a bush.  About
+the same time, Wilkins fell behind to examine one of the numerous plants
+that were constantly distracting his attention, so that our hero was
+left for a time to hunt alone with the natives.  He was walking a
+considerable distance in advance of them when he came to a dense thicket
+which was black as midnight, and so still that the falling of a leaf
+might have been heard.  Tom Brown surveyed the thicket quietly for a few
+seconds, and observing the marks of some large animal on the ground, he
+beckoned to the Caffre who carried his spare double-barrelled gun.  Up
+to this date our hero had not shot any of the large denizens of the
+African wilderness, and now that he was suddenly called upon to face
+what he believed to be one of them, he acquitted himself in a way that
+might have been expected of a member of the Brown family!  He put off
+his shoes, cocked his piece, and entered the thicket alone--the natives
+declining to enter along with him.  Coolly and very quietly he advanced
+into the gloomy twilight of the thicket, and as he went he felt as
+though all the vivid dreams and fervid imaginings about lions that had
+ever passed through his mind from earliest infancy were rushing upon him
+in a concentrated essence!  Yet there was no outward indication of the
+burning thoughts within, save in the sparkle of his dark brown eye, and
+the flush of his brown cheek.  As he wore a brown shooting-coat, he may
+be said to have been at that time Brown all over!
+
+He had proceeded about fifty yards or so when, just as he turned a
+winding in the path, he found himself face to face with an old
+buffalo-bull, fast asleep, and lying down not ten yards off.  To drop on
+one knee and level his piece was the work of an instant, but
+unfortunately he snapped a dry twig in doing so.  The eyes of the huge
+brute opened instantly, and he had half risen before the loud report of
+the gun rang through the thicket.  Leaping up, Tom Brown took advantage
+of the smoke to run back a few yards and spring behind a bush, where he
+waited to observe the result of his shot.  It was more tremendous then
+he had expected.  A crash on his right told him that another, and
+unsuspected, denizen of the thicket had been scared from his lair, while
+the one he had fired at was on his legs snuffing the air for his enemy.
+Evidently the wind had been favourable, for immediately he made a
+dead-set and charged right through the bush behind which our hero was
+concealed.  Tom leaped on one side; the buffalo-bull turned short round
+and made another dash at him.  There was only the remnant of the
+shattered bush between the two; the buffalo stood for a few seconds
+eyeing him furiously, the blood streaming down its face from a
+bullet-hole between the two eyes, and its head garnished with a torn
+mass of the bush.  Again it charged, and again Tom, unable to get a
+favourable chance for his second barrel, leaped aside and evaded it with
+difficulty.  The bush was now trampled down, and scarcely formed a
+shadow of a screen between them; nevertheless Tom stood his ground,
+hoping to get a shot at the bull's side, and never for a single instant
+taking his eye off him.  Once more he charged, and again our hero
+escaped.  He did not venture, however, to stand another, but turned and
+fled, closely followed by the infuriated animal.
+
+A few yards in front the path turned at almost right angles.  Tom
+thought he felt the hot breath of his pursuer on his neck as he doubled
+actively round the corner.  His enemy could neither diverge from nor
+check his onward career; right through a fearfully tangled thicket he
+went, and broke into the open beyond, carrying an immense pile of
+rubbish on his horns.  Tom instantly threw himself on his back in the
+thicket to avoid being seen, and hoped that his native followers would
+now attract the bull's attention, but not one of them made his
+appearance, so he started up, and just as the disappointed animal had
+broken away over the plain, going straight from him, he gave him the
+second barrel, and hit him high up on the last rib on the off side, in
+front of the hip.  He threw up his tail, made a tremendous bound in the
+air, dashed through bush-thorns so dense and close that it seemed
+perfectly marvellous how he managed it, and fell dead within two hundred
+yards.
+
+Note.  If the reader should desire fuller accounts of such battles, we
+recommend to him _African Hunting_, a very interesting work, by W.C.
+Baldwin, Esquire, to whom, with Dr Livingstone, Du Chaillu, and others,
+I am indebted for most of the information contained in this volume,--
+R.M.B.
+
+The moment it fell the natives descended from the different trees in
+which they had taken refuge at the commencement of the fray, and were
+lavish in their compliments; but Tom, who felt that he had been deserted
+in the hour of need, did not receive these very graciously, and there is
+no saying how far he might have proceeded in rebuking his followers (for
+the Brown family is pugnacious under provocation) had not the major's
+voice been heard in the distance, shouting, "Hallo! look out! a buffalo!
+where are you, Tom Brown, Wilkins?"
+
+"Hallo!" he added, bursting suddenly into the open where they were
+standing, "what's this--a--buffalo? dead!  Have 'ee killed him? why, I
+saw him alive not two minutes--"
+
+His speech was cut short by a loud roar, as the buffalo he had been in
+chase of, scared by the approach of Wilkins, burst through the underwood
+and charged down on the whole party.  They fled right and left, but as
+the brute passed, Wilkins, from the other side of the open, fired at it
+and put a ball in just behind the shoulder-blade.  It did not fall,
+however, and the three hunters ran after it at full speed, Wilkins
+leading, Tom Brown next, and the major last.  The natives kept well out
+of harm's way on either side; not that they were unusually timid
+fellows, but they probably felt that where such able hands were at work
+it was unnecessary for them to interfere!
+
+As the major went racing clumsily along--for he was what may be called
+an ill-jointed man, nevertheless as bold as a lion and a capital shot--
+he heard a clatter of hoofs behind him, and, looking over his shoulder,
+observed another buffalo in full career behind.  He stopped instantly,
+took quick aim at the animal's breast, and fired, but apparently without
+effect.  There chanced to be a forked tree close at hand, to which the
+major rushed and scrambled up with amazing rapidity.  He was knocked out
+of it again quite as quickly by the shock of the tremendous charge made
+by the buffalo, which almost split its skull, and rolled over dead at
+the tree-root, shot right through the heart.
+
+Meanwhile Tom Brown and the lieutenant had overtaken and killed the
+other animal, so that they returned to camp well laden with the best
+part of the meat of three buffaloes.
+
+Here, while resting after the toils of the day, beside the roaring
+camp-fires, and eating their well-earned supper, Hicks the trader told
+them that a native had brought news of a desperate attack by lions on a
+kraal not more than a day's journey from where they lay.
+
+"It's not far out o' the road," said Hicks, who was a white man--of what
+country no one knew--with a skin so weather-beaten by constant exposure
+that it was more like leather than flesh; "if you want some sport in
+that way, I'd advise 'ee to go there to-morrow."
+
+"Want some sport in that way!" echoed Wilkins in an excited tone; "why,
+what do you suppose we came here for?  _Of course_ we'll go there at
+once; that is, if my comrades have no objection."
+
+"With all my heart," said the major with a smile as he carefully filled
+his beloved pipe.
+
+Tom Brown said nothing; but he smoked his pipe quietly, and nodded his
+head gently, and felt a slight but decided swelling of the heart, as he
+murmured inwardly to himself, "Yes, I'll have a slap at the lions
+to-morrow."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+IN WHICH GREAT DEEDS ARE DONE, AND TOM BROWN HAS A NARROW ESCAPE.
+
+But Tom was wrong.  Either the report had been false, or the lions had a
+special intimation that certain destruction approached them; for our
+hunters waited two nights at the native kraal without seeing one,
+although the black king thereof stoutly affirmed that they had attacked
+the cattle enclosures nearly every night for a week past, and committed
+great havoc.
+
+One piece of good fortune, however, attended them, which was that they
+unexpectedly met with the large party which the major had expressed his
+wish to join.  It consisted of about thirty men, four of whom were
+sportsmen, and the rest natives, with about twenty women and children,
+twelve horses, seventy oxen, five wagons, and a few dogs; all under the
+leadership of a trader named Hardy.
+
+Numerous though the oxen were, there were not too many of them, as the
+reader may easily believe when we tell him that the wagons were very
+large, clumsy, and heavily laden,--one of them, besides other things,
+carrying a small boat--and that it occasionally required the powers of
+twenty oxen to drag one wagon up some of the bad hills they encountered
+on the journey to the Zulu country.
+
+The four sportsmen, who were named respectively Pearson, Ogilvie, Anson,
+and Brand, were overjoyed at the addition to the party of Tom Brown and
+his companions, the more so that Tom was a doctor, for the constitutions
+of two of them, Ogilvie and Anson, had proved to be scarcely capable of
+withstanding the evil effects of the climate.  Tom prescribed for them
+so successfully that they soon regained their strength; a result which
+he believed, however, was fully as much due to the cheering effects of
+the addition to their social circle as to medicine.
+
+Having rested at the kraal a few days, partly to recruit the travellers,
+and partly to give the lions an opportunity of returning and being shot,
+the whole band set forth on their journey to the Umveloose river, having
+previously rendered the king of the kraal and his subjects happy by a
+liberal present of beads, brass wire, blue calico, and blankets.
+
+At the kraal they had procured a large quantity of provisions for the
+journey--amobella meal for porridge, mealies, rice, beans, potatoes, and
+water-melons; and, while there, they had enjoyed the luxury of as much
+milk as they could drink; so that all the party were in pretty good
+condition and excellent spirits when they left.  But this did not last
+very long, for the weather suddenly changed, and rain fell in immense
+quantities.  The long rank grass of those regions became so saturated
+that it was impossible to keep one's-self dry; and, to add to their
+discomforts, mosquitoes increased in numbers to such an extent that some
+of the European travellers could scarcely obtain a wink of sleep.
+
+"Oh dear!" groaned poor Wilkins, one night as he lay between the major
+and Tom Brown on the wet grass under the shelter of a bullock-wagon
+covered with a wet blanket; "how I wish that the first mosquito had
+never been born!"
+
+"If the world could get on without rain," growled the major, "my
+felicity would be complete.  There is a particular stream which courses
+down the underside of the right shaft of the wagon, and meets with some
+obstruction just at the point which causes it to pour continuously down
+my neck.  I've shifted my position twice, but it appears to follow me,
+and I have had sensations for the last quarter of an hour which induce
+me to believe that a rivulet is bridged by the small of my back.  Ha!
+have you killed him this time?"
+
+The latter remark was addressed to Tom Brown, who had for some time past
+been vigorously engaged slapping his own face in the vain hope of
+slaying his tormentors--vain, not only because they were too quick to be
+caught in that way, but also, because, if slain by hundreds at every
+blow, there would still have remained thousands more to come on!
+
+"No," replied Tom, with a touch of bitterness in his tone; "he's not
+dead yet."
+
+"He?" exclaimed Wilkins; "do you mean to say that you are troubled by
+only _one_ of the vile creatures?"
+
+"Oh no!" said Tom; "there are millions of 'em humming viciously round my
+head at this moment, but one of them is so big and assiduous that I have
+come to recognise his voice--there! d'you hear it?"
+
+"Hear it!" cried Wilkins; "how can you expect me to hear one of yours
+when I am engaged with a host of my own?  Ah! but I hear _that_," he
+added, laughing, as another tremendous crack resounded from Tom Brown's
+cheek; "what a tough skin you must have, to be sure, to stand such
+treatment?"
+
+"I am lost in admiration of the amiableness of your temper, Tom,"
+remarked the major.  "If I were to get such a slap in the face as that,
+even from myself, I could not help flying in a passion.  Hope the enemy
+is defeated at last?"
+
+"I--I--think so," said Tom, in that meditative tone which assures the
+listener that the speaker is intensely on the _qui vive_; "yes, I
+believe I _have_--eh--no--there he--oh!"
+
+Another pistol-shot slap concluded the sentence, and poor Tom's
+companions in sorrow burst into a fit of laughter.
+
+"Let 'im bite, sir," growled the deep bass voice of Hardy, who lay under
+a neighbouring wagon; "when he's got his beak well shoved into you, and
+begins to suck, he can't get away so quick, 'cause of havin' to pull it
+out again! hit out hard and quick then, an' you're sure of him.  But the
+best way's to let 'em bite, an' go to sleep."
+
+"Good advice; I'll try to take it," said Tom, turning round with a sigh,
+and burying his face in the blanket.  His companions followed his
+example, and in spite of rain and mosquitoes were soon fast asleep.
+
+This wet weather had a very depressing effect on their spirits, and made
+the region so unhealthy that it began ere long to tell on the weaker
+members of the sporting party; as for the natives, they, being inured to
+it, were proof against everything.  Being all but naked, they did not
+suffer from wet garments; and as they smeared their bodies over with
+grease, the rain ran off them as it does off the ducks.  However, it did
+not last long at that time.  In a few days the sky cleared, and the
+spirits of the party revived with their health.
+
+The amount of animal life seen on the journey was amazing.  All
+travellers in Africa have borne testimony to the fact that it teems with
+animals.  The descriptions which, not many years ago, were deemed
+fabulous, have been repeated to us as sober truth by men of
+unquestionable veracity.  Indeed, no description, however vivid, can
+convey to those whose personal experience has been limited to the fields
+of Britain an adequate conception of the teeming millions of living
+creatures, great and small, four-footed and winged, which swarm in the
+dense forests and mighty plains of the African wilderness.
+
+Of course the hunters of the party were constantly on the alert, and
+great was the slaughter done; but great also was the capacity of the
+natives for devouring animal food, so that very little of the sport
+could be looked upon in the light of life taken in vain.
+
+Huge and curious, as well as beautiful, were the creatures "bagged."
+
+On one occasion Tom Brown went out with the rest of the party on
+horseback after some elephants, the tracks of which had been seen the
+day before.  In the course of the day Tom was separated from his
+companions, but being of an easy-going disposition, and having been born
+with a thorough belief in the impossibility of anything very serious
+happening to him, he was not much alarmed, and continued to follow what
+he thought were the tracks of elephants, expecting every moment to fall
+in with, or hear shots from his friends.
+
+During the journey Tom had seen the major, who was an old sportsman,
+kill several elephants, so that he conceived himself to be quite able
+for that duty if it should devolve upon him.  He was walking his horse
+quietly along a sort of path that skirted a piece of thicket when he
+heard a tremendous crashing of trees, and looking up saw a troop of
+fifty or sixty elephants dashing away through a grove of mapani-trees.
+Tom at once put spurs to his horse, unslung his large-bore
+double-barrelled gun, and coming close up to a cow-elephant, sent a ball
+into her behind the shoulder.  She did not drop, so he gave her another
+shot, when she fell heavily to the ground.
+
+At that moment he heard a shot not far off.  Immediately afterwards
+there was a sound of trampling feet which rapidly increased, and in a
+few moments the whole band of elephants came rushing back towards him,
+having been turned by the major with a party of natives.  Not having
+completed the loading of his gun, Tom hastily rode behind a dense bush,
+and concealed himself as well as he could.  The herd turned aside just
+before reaching the bush, and passed him about a hundred yards off with
+a tremendous rush, their trunks and tails in the air, and the major and
+Wilkins, with a lot of natives and dogs, in full pursuit.  Tom was
+beginning to regret that he had not fired a long shot at them, when he
+heard a crash behind him, and looking back saw a monstrous bull-elephant
+making a terrific charge at him.  It was a wounded animal, mad with rage
+and pain, which had caught sight of him in passing.  Almost before he
+was aware of its approach it went crashing through the thicket
+trumpeting furiously, and tearing down trees, bushes, and everything
+before it.
+
+Tom lay forward on the neck of his steed and drove the spurs into him.
+Away they went like the wind with the elephant close behind.  In his
+anxiety Tom cast his eyes too often behind him.  Before he could avoid
+it he was close on the top of a very steep slope, or stony hill, which
+went down about fifty yards to the plain below.  To rein up was
+impossible, to go down would have been almost certain death to horse and
+man.  With death before and behind, our hero had no alternative but to
+swerve, for the trunk of the huge creature was already almost over the
+haunch of his terrified horse.  He did swerve.  Pulling the horse on his
+haunches, and swinging him round at the same moment as if on a pivot, he
+made a bound to the left.  The elephant passed him with a shriek like
+that of a railway engine, stuck out its feet before it, and went sliding
+wildly down the slope--as little boys are sometimes wont to do--sending
+dust, atones, and rubbish in a stupendous cloud before him.  At the foot
+he lost his balance, and the last that Tom saw of him was a flourish of
+his stumpy tail as he went heels over head to the bottom of the hill.
+But he could not stop to see more; his horse was away with him, and fled
+over the plain on the wings of terror for a mile in the opposite
+direction before he consented to be pulled up.
+
+Tom's companions, meanwhile, had shot two elephants--one a cow, the
+other a pretty old calf, and on their way back to camp they killed a
+buffalo.  The other hunters had been also successful, so that the camp
+resounded with noisy demonstrations of joy, and the atmosphere ere long
+became redolent of the fumes of roasting meat, while the black bodies of
+the natives absolutely glittered with grease.
+
+On summing up the result of the day's work, it was found that they had
+bagged six elephants, three elands, two buffaloes, and a variety of
+smaller game.
+
+"A good bag," observed the major as he sipped his tea; "but I have seen
+better.  However, we must rest content.  By the way, Pearson, they tell
+me you had a narrow escape from a buffalo-bull."
+
+"So I had," replied Pearson, pausing in the midst of a hearty meal that
+he was making off a baked elephant's foot; "but for Anson there I
+believe it would have been my last hunt."
+
+"How did he help you?" asked Tom Brown.
+
+"Come, tell them, Anson, you know best," said Pearson; "I am too busy
+yet to talk."
+
+"Oh, it was simple enough," said Anson with a laugh.  "He and I had gone
+off together after a small herd of buffaloes; Ogilvie and Brand were
+away following up the spoor of an elephant.  We came upon the buffaloes
+unexpectedly, and at the first shot Pearson dropped one dead--shot
+through the heart.  We were both on foot, having left our horses behind,
+because the ground was too stony for them.  After a hard chase of two
+hours we came up with the herd.  Pearson fired at a young bull and broke
+its leg, nevertheless it went off briskly on the remaining three, so I
+fired and shot off its tail.  This appeared to tickle his fancy, for he
+turned at once and charged Pearson, who dropped his gun, sprang into a
+thorn-tree and clambered out of reach only just in time to escape the
+brute, which grazed his heel in passing.  Poor fellow, he got such a
+fright--"
+
+"False!" cried Pearson, with his mouth full of meat.
+
+"That he fell off the tree," continued Anson, "and the bull turned to
+charge again, so, out of pity for my friend, I stopped him with a bullet
+in the chest."
+
+"It was well done, Anson, I'm your debtor for life," said Pearson,
+holding out his plate; "just give me a little more of that splendid foot
+and you'll increase the debt immeasurably; you see the adventure has not
+taken away my appetite."
+
+As he said this a savage growl was heard close to the wagon beside which
+they were seated.  It was followed by a howl from one of the dogs.  They
+all sprang up and ran towards the spot whence the sound came, just in
+time to see a panther bounding away with one of the dogs.  A terrific
+yell of rage burst from every one, and each hastily threw something or
+other at the bold intruder.  Pearson flung his knife and fork at it,
+having forgotten to drop those light weapons when he leaped up.  The
+major hurled after it a heavy mass of firewood.  Hardy and Hicks flung
+the huge marrow bones with which they happened to be engaged at the
+time.  Tom Brown swung a large axe after it, and Wilkins, in
+desperation, shied his cap at it!  But all missed their mark, and the
+panther would certainly have carried off his prize had not a very tall
+and powerfully-built Caffre, named Mafuta, darted at it an assegai, or
+long native spear, which, wounding it slightly, caused it to drop its
+prey.
+
+The poor dog was severely hurt about the neck; it recovered, however,
+soon afterwards.  The same night on which this occurred, one of the oxen
+was killed by a lion, but although all the people were more or less on
+the alert, the monarch of the woods escaped unpunished.
+
+At an early hour next morning the train of wagons got into motion, and
+the hunters went out to their usual occupation.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+TOM SEES WONDERFUL SIGHTS, AND AT LAST HAS HIS DREAMS FULFILLED.
+
+Thus the travellers advanced day by day--sometimes in sunshine,
+sometimes in rain, now successful in hunting and now unsuccessful--until
+they reached the Zulu country and the banks of the river Umveloose.
+
+Here they called a halt for a time, and began to hunt vigorously in all
+directions, aiming at every species of game.  Our hero's first
+introduction to the river scenery was interesting, to himself at least,
+and singular.  Having placed himself at the disposal of his friends to
+be appointed to whatever duty they pleased, he was sent off in the small
+boat belonging to the party with plenty of ammunition and provisions;
+Lieutenant Wilkins being his companion, and the tall Caffre, Mafuta, his
+guide and instructor in African warfare against the brute creation.
+
+Between Tom Brown and this man Mafuta there had sprung up a species of
+friendship, which grew stronger the more they became acquainted with
+each other.  Mafuta was an unusually honest, affectionate and
+straightforward Caffre, who had been much in the settlements, and could
+speak a little English.  He first drew forth our hero's regard by
+nursing him with almost womanly tenderness during a three-days' severe
+illness at the beginning of the journey.  Thereafter Tom gained his
+affection by repeated little acts of kindness, done in a quiet, offhand,
+careless way, as though he had pleasure in being kind, and did not care
+much whether the kindness were appreciated or not.  He also excited his
+admiration by the imperturbable coolness and smiling good-humour with
+which he received every event in life; from the offer of an elephant
+steak to the charge of a black rhinoceros.  Mafuta was also fond of
+Wilkins; but he worshipped Tom Brown.
+
+On reaching the river the boat was launched on a part where there was
+nothing particularly striking to merit notice, so Tom said: "D'you know,
+Bob, I've taken a fancy to ramble alone for an hour along the banks of
+this river; will you, like a good fellow, get into the boat with Mafuta,
+and let me go along the banks on foot for a few miles.  As your work
+will only be dropping down stream, you won't find it hard."
+
+"By all means, Tom; a pleasant journey to you but see that you don't
+fall into the jaws of a lion or a crocodile!"
+
+Our hero smiled as he waved his hand to his companions, and, turning
+away, was soon lost to sight among the bushes.
+
+Now the fact was that Tom Brown, so far from being the unromantic
+creature that his name is erroneously supposed to imply, had such a
+superabundance of romance in his composition that he had, for some time
+past, longed to get away from his companions, and the noise and bustle
+of the wagon train, and go off alone into the solitudes of the great
+African wilderness, there to revel in the full enjoyment of the fact
+that he was in reality far far away from the haunts of civilised men;
+alone with primeval Nature!
+
+The day happened to be delightful.  Not too hot for walking, yet warm
+enough to incline one of Tom's temperament to throw open his vest and
+bare his broad bosom to any breeze that might chance to gambol through
+the forest.  With characteristic nonchalance he pushed his wideawake off
+his forehead for the sake of coolness, and in so doing tilted it very
+much on one side, which gave him a somewhat rakish air.  He carried his
+heavy double-barrelled gun on one of his broad shoulders with the butt
+behind him, and his right hand grasping the muzzle, while in his left he
+held a handkerchief, with which he occasionally wiped his heated brow.
+It was evident that Tom experienced the effects of the heat much, but he
+did not suffer from it.  He perspired profusely, breathed heavily, and
+swaggered unwittingly, while a beaming smile played on his ruddy
+countenance, which told of peace with himself and with all mankind.
+
+Not so, however, with brute kind, as became apparent after he had
+advanced about half a mile in a dreamy state down the banks of the quiet
+river, for, happening to observe something of a tawny yellow colour
+among the bushes, he brought his gun to the "present" with great
+precipitancy, cocked both barrels, and advanced with the utmost caution.
+
+Up to this period he had not been successful in accomplishing his great
+wish--the shooting of a lion.  Many a time had he heard the strong
+voices of the brutes, and once or twice had seen their forms dimly in
+the night sneaking round the bullocks wagons, but he had not yet managed
+to get a fair full view of the forest king, or a good shot at him.  His
+heart now beat high with hope, for he believed that he was about to
+realise his ancient dream.  Slowly, step by step, he advanced, avoiding
+the dense bushes, stepping lightly over the small ones, insinuating
+himself through holes and round stems, and conducting himself in a way
+that would have done credit to a North American Indian, until he gained
+a tree, close on the other side of which he knew the tawny object lay.
+With beating heart, but steady hand and frowning eye, he advanced
+another step and found--that the object was a yellow stone!
+
+There was a sudden motion about Tom's jaws, as if he had gnashed his
+teeth, and a short gasp issued from his mouth, but that was all.  The
+compressed steam was off; a smile wrinkled his visage immediately after,
+and quietly uncocking his gun he threw it over his shoulder and resumed
+his march.
+
+On rounding a point a few minutes after, he was again arrested by a
+scene which, while it charmed, amazed him.  Often had he observed the
+multitudes of living creatures with which the Creator has peopled that
+great continent, but never before had he beheld such a concentrated
+picture as was presented at that moment.  Before him lay a wide stretch
+of the river, so wide, and apparently currentless, that it seemed like a
+calm lake, and so perfectly still that every object on and around it was
+faithfully mirrored on its depths--even the fleecy clouds that floated
+in the calm sky were repeated far down in the azure vault below.
+
+Every part of this beautiful scene teemed with living creatures of every
+sort and size, from the huge alligators that lay like stranded logs upon
+the mud-banks, basking in the sun, to the tiny plover that waded in
+cheerful activity among the sedges.  There were tall reeds in many
+places, and among these were thousands of cranes, herons, flamingoes,
+and other members of that long-necked and long-legged family; some
+engaged in solemnly searching for food, while others, already gorged,
+stood gravely on one leg, as if that position assisted digestion, and
+watched with quiet satisfaction the proceedings of their companions.
+The glassy surface of the mirror was covered in places with a countless
+host of geese, widgeons, teals and other water-fowl either gambolling
+about in sport, or sleeping away a recent surfeit, and thousands of
+other small birds and beasts swarmed about everywhere, giving a sort of
+faint indication of the inconceivable numbers of the smaller creatures
+which were there, though not visible to the observer.  But Tom's
+interest was chiefly centred on the huge animals--the crocodiles and
+hippopotami--which sprawled or floated about.
+
+Not far from the bush from behind which he gazed, two large crocodiles
+lay basking on a mudbank--rugged and rough in the hide as two ancient
+trees--the one using the back of the other as a pillow.  A little beyond
+these three hippopotami floated in the water, only the upper parts of
+their heads and rotund bodies being visible.  These lay so motionless
+that they might have been mistaken for floating puncheons, and the
+observer would have thought them asleep, had he not noticed an
+occasional turn of the whites of their small eyes, and a slight puff of
+steam and water from their tightly compressed nostrils.
+
+Truly it was a grand sight; one calculated to awaken in the most
+unthinking minds some thoughts about the infinite power of Him who made
+them all.  Tom's mind did rise upwards for a little.  Although not at
+that time very seriously inclined, he was, nevertheless, a man whose
+mind had been trained to think with reverence of his Creator.  He was
+engaged in solemn contemplation of the scene before him, when a deep
+gurgling plunge almost under the bush at his feet aroused him.  It was a
+hippopotamus which had been standing on the river-brink within six yards
+of the muzzle of his gun.  Tom cocked and presented, but thinking that
+the position of the animal did not afford him a good chance of killing
+it, he waited, feeling sure, at all events, of securing one of the
+various huge creatures that were lying so near him.
+
+It says much for Tom's powers of wood-craft that he managed to advance
+as near as he did to these animals without disturbing them.  Few hunters
+could have done it; but it must be remembered that our hero, like all
+other heroes, was a man of unusual and astonishing parts!
+
+While he hesitated for a few moments, undecided whether to fire at the
+crocodiles or the hippopotami, one of the latter suddenly uttered a
+prolonged snort or snore, and opened a mouth of such awful dimensions
+that Tom's head and shoulders would have easily found room in it.  As he
+gazed into the dark red throat he felt that the wild fictions of
+untravelled men fell far short of the facts of actual life, in regard to
+grandeur and horribility, and it struck him that if the front half of a
+hippopotamus were sewed to the rear half of a crocodile there would be
+produced a monster incomparably more grand and horrible than the
+fiercest dragon St. George ever slew!  While these ideas were passing
+quickly through his excited brain, the boat, which he had totally
+forgotten, came quietly round the bend of the river above him.  But the
+sharp-eared and quick-eyed denizens of the wilderness were on the alert;
+it had scarcely shown its prow round the point of land, and the
+hippopotamus had not quite completed its lazy yawn, when the entire
+winged host rose with a rushing noise so thunderous, yet so soft and
+peculiar, that words cannot convey the idea of the sight and sound.  At
+the same time, many grunts and snorts and heavy plunges told that sundry
+amphibious creatures had been disturbed, and were seeking safety in the
+clear stream.
+
+Tom hesitated no longer.  He aimed at the yawning hippopotamus and
+fired, hitting it on the skull, but at such an angle that the ball
+glanced off.  If there was noise before, the riot and confusion now was
+indescribable!  Water-fowl that had not moved at the first alarm now
+sprang in myriads from reeds and sedges, and darkened the very air.  The
+two alligators just under Tom's nose spun their tails in the air with a
+whirl of awful energy that seemed quite incompatible with their sluggish
+nature, and rushed into the river.  The hippopotami dived with a splash
+that covered the water around them with foam, and sent a wave of
+considerable size to the shore.  The sudden burst of excitement, noise,
+splutter, and confusion was not less impressive than the previous calm
+had been, but Tom had not leisure to contemplate it, being himself
+involved in the whirl.  Four shots from the boat told him that his
+companions were also engaged.  One of the crocodiles re-appeared
+suddenly as if to have another look at Tom, who discharged his second
+barrel at it, sent a ball into its brain, and turned it over dead.  He
+reloaded in great haste, and was in the act of capping when he heard a
+loud shout in the direction of the boat, and looking up, observed that
+Wilkins was standing in the bow gesticulating violently.  He listened
+for a moment, but could not make out what he said.
+
+"Hallo!" he cried, "shout louder; I don't hear you."
+
+Again Wilkins shouted at the top of his voice, and waved his arms more
+frantically than before.  Tom could not make out the words.  He judged,
+however, that no man would put himself to such violent physical exertion
+without good reason, so he turned and looked cautiously around him.
+Presently he heard a crashing sound in the bushes, and a few moments
+afterwards observed three buffaloes tearing along the path in which he
+stood.  It was these that Wilkins had seen from the boat when he
+attempted in vain to warn his friend.  Tom jumped behind a bush, and as
+they passed tried to fire, but the foliage was so dense that he failed
+to get a good aim.  Reserving his fire, therefore, he dashed after them
+at full speed.  After running some distance the buffaloes stood still,
+and the nearest bull turned round and looked at Tom, who instantly sent
+a two ounce ball crashing into his shoulder.  This turned them, and they
+all three made off at once, but the wounded one fell behind.  Tom
+therefore stopped to reload, feeling pretty sure of him.  Starting off
+in pursuit, he gained on the wounded animal at every stride, and was
+about to fire again, when his limbs were for a moment paralysed, and his
+heart was made almost to stand still at the sight of three full-grown
+lions which sprang at the unfortunate brute from a neighbouring thicket.
+They had no doubt gone there to rest for the day, but the sight of a
+lame and bleeding buffalo was a temptation too strong for them.  The
+lions did not leap upon him, but, seizing him with their teeth and
+claws, stood on their hind legs and tried to tear him down with terrible
+ferocity.
+
+Our hero, who, as we have said, was for a few moments bereft of the
+power of action, could do nothing but stand and gaze in amazement.  All
+the dreams of his youth and manhood were as nothing to this!  The poor
+buffalo fought nobly, but it had no chance against such odds, and would
+certainly have been torn to pieces and devoured had not Tom recovered
+his self-possession in a few minutes.  Creeping up to within thirty
+yards he fired at one of the lions with such good aim that it fell dead
+almost on the spot, having time only to turn and seize a bush savagely
+with its teeth ere it died.  The second barrel was discharged, but not
+with the same effect.  Another of the lions was wounded, and sprang into
+the bushes with an angry roar.  The third merely lifted his head, looked
+at Tom for a moment as if with indignant surprise, and then went on
+tearing at the carcass as hard as ever.
+
+With a feeling of thankfulness that this particular king of the forest
+had treated him so contemptuously, Tom slunk behind a tree and recharged
+his gun, after which he advanced cautiously and sent a ball crashing
+through the lion's shoulder.  It _ought_ to have killed him, he thought,
+but it did not, for he made off as fast as possible, just as Wilkins and
+Mafuta arrived, panting, on the scene of action.
+
+"What a magnificent fellow!" exclaimed Wilkins going up to the dead
+lion.  "Bravissimo, Tom, you've done it at last."
+
+"Done _it_!" cried Tom, as he loaded hastily, "why, I've all but done
+_three_.  Follow up the trail, man, as fast as you can.  I'll overtake
+you in no time!"
+
+Wilkins did not wait for more, but dashed into the thicket after Mafuta,
+who had preceded him.
+
+Tom was quickly on their heels, and they had not gone far when one of
+the wounded lions was found lying on the ground quite dead.  The other
+was not overtaken, but, as Wilkins said, two lions, a buffalo, and a
+hippopotamus, which latter he had shot from the boat, was not a bad
+beginning!
+
+That night they encamped under the shelter of a spreading tree, and as
+they reclined at full length between two fires, which were kindled to
+keep off the wild beasts, enjoying a pipe after having feasted
+luxuriously on hippopotamus steaks and marrow bones, Tom Brown remarked:
+"Well, my dream has been realised at last, and, upon my word, I have not
+been disappointed."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+MORE ABOUT LIONS!
+
+As we have now introduced our readers to the lion, we think it but right
+to say something about his aspect and character, as given by some of our
+best authorities.
+
+Dr Livingstone, that greatest of African travellers, seems to be of
+opinion that untravelled men are prone to overrate the lion, both as to
+his appearance and courage.  From him we learn that when a lion is met
+with in the day-time--a circumstance by no means uncommon in Africa--the
+traveller will be disappointed with the appearance of the animal which
+they had been accustomed to hear styled "noble" and "majestic"; that it
+is somewhat larger than the largest-sized dog, partakes very strongly of
+the canine features, and does not much resemble our usual drawings of
+lions, which he condemns as bearing too strong a resemblance to "old
+women's faces in nightcaps."  The Doctor also talks slightingly of its
+roar, and says that having made particular inquiry as to the opinions of
+European travellers who have heard the roar of the lion and that of the
+ostrich, he found they invariably admitted that they could not detect
+any difference between the two when the animals were at a distance.
+
+Now, really, although we are bound to admit that the Doctor's opinion is
+of great weight, we cannot, without a humble protest, allow ourselves to
+be thus ruthlessly stripped of all our romantic notions in regard to the
+"king of beasts"!  We suspect that the Doctor, disgusted with the
+"twaddle" that has undoubtedly been talked in all ages about the
+"magnanimity" of the "noble" lion and his "terrific aspect," has been
+led unintentionally to underrate him.  In this land we have
+opportunities of seeing and hearing the lion in his captive state; and
+we think that most readers will sympathise with us when we say that even
+in a cage he has at least a very grand and noble _aspect_; and that,
+when about to be fed, his intermittent growls and small roars, so to
+speak, have something very awful and impressive, which nothing like the
+bellowing of a bull can at all equal.  To say that the roar of the
+ostrich is equal to that of the lion is no argument at all; it does not
+degrade the latter, it merely exalts the former.  And further, in regard
+to aspect, the illustrations in Dr Livingstone's own most interesting
+work go far to prove that the lion is magnificent in appearance.
+
+Thus much we dare venture to say, because on these points we, with all
+men, are in a position to form a judgment for ourselves.  We, however,
+readily believe the great traveller when he tells us that nothing he
+ever heard of the lion led him to ascribe to it a noble _character_, and
+that it possesses none of the nobility of the Newfoundland or St.
+Bernard Dogs.  The courage of the lion, although not greater than that
+of most large and powerful animals, is, without doubt, quite sufficient!
+But he fortunately possesses a wholesome dread of man, else would he
+certainly long ere now have become king of Africa as well as of beasts.
+When encountered in the day-time, he usually stands a second or two
+gazing, then turns slowly round and walks leisurely away for a dozen
+paces or so, looking over his shoulder as he goes.  Soon he begins to
+trot, and, when he thinks himself out of sight, bounds off like a
+greyhound.  As a rule, there is not the smallest danger of a lion
+attacking man by day, if he be not molested, except when he happens to
+have a wife and young family with him.  Then, indeed, his bravery will
+induce him to face almost any danger.  If a man happens to pass to
+windward of a lion and lioness with cubs, both parents will rush at him,
+but instances of this kind ere of rare occurrence.
+
+It would seem that light of any kind has a tendency to scare away lions.
+Bright moonlight is a safeguard against them, as well as daylight.  So
+well is this understood, that on moonlight nights it is not thought
+necessary to tie up the oxen, which are left loose by the wagons, while
+on dark rainy nights it is deemed absolutely necessary to tether them,
+because if a lion chanced to be in the vicinity, he would be almost sure
+to attack, and perhaps kill, an ox, notwithstanding the vigilance of
+guards and the light of the camp-fires.  He always approaches
+stealthily, like the cat, except when wounded; but anything having the
+appearance of a trap will induce him to refrain from making the last
+fatal spring.  This is a peculiarity of the whole feline species.  It
+has been found in India that when a hunter pickets a goat on a plain as
+a bait, a tiger has whipped it off so quickly by a stroke of his paw
+that it was impossible to take aim.  To obviate this difficulty a small
+pit is dug, in the bottom of which the goat is picketed, with a small
+stone tied in its ear to make it cry the whole night.  When the
+suspicious tiger sees the appearance of a trap he walks round and round
+the pit, thus giving the hunter in ambush a fair shot.
+
+When a hungry lion is watching for prey, the sight of any animal will
+make him commence stalking it.  On one occasion a man was very busy
+stalking a rhinoceros, when, happening to glance behind him, he found to
+his consternation that a lion was _stalking him_! he escaped by
+springing up a tree.
+
+The strength of the lion is tremendous, owing to the immense mass of
+muscle around its jaws, shoulders, and forearms.  What one hears,
+however, of his sometimes seizing an ox or a horse in his mouth and
+running away with it, as a cat does with a mouse, and even leaping
+hedges, etcetera, is nonsense.  Dr Livingstone says that most of the
+feats of strength he has seen performed by lions consisted, not in
+carrying, but dragging or trailing the carcass along the ground.
+
+He usually seizes his prey by the flank near the hind leg, or by the
+throat below the jaw.  He has his particular likings and tit-bits, and
+is very expert in carving out the parts of an animal that please him
+best.  An eland may be sometimes disembowelled by a lion so completely
+that he scarcely seems cut up at all, and the bowels and fatty parts of
+the interior form a full meal for the lion, however large or hungry he
+may be.  His pert little follower the jackal usually goes after him,
+sniffing about and waiting for a share, and is sometimes punished for
+his impudent familiarity with a stroke of the lion's paw, which of
+course kills him.
+
+Lions are never seen in herds, but sometimes six or eight--probably one
+family--are seen hunting together.  Much has been said and written about
+the courage of the lion, and his ability to attack and kill any other
+animal.  His powers in this respect have been overrated.  It is
+questionable if a single lion ever attacks a full-grown buffalo.  When
+he assails a calf, the cow will rush upon him, and one toss from her
+horns is sufficient to kill him.  The amount of roaring usually heard at
+night, when a buffalo is killed, seems to indicate that more than one
+lion has been engaged in the fight.  They never attack any elephants,
+except the calves.  "Every living thing," writes Livingstone, "retires
+before the lordly elephant, yet a full-grown one would be an easier prey
+to the lion than a rhinoceros.  The lion rushes off at the mere sight of
+this latter beast!"
+
+When a lion grows too old to hunt game, he frequently retires to spend
+the decline of life in the suburbs of a native village, where he is well
+content to live by killing goats.  A woman or a child happening to go
+out at night sometimes falls a prey also.  Being unable, of course, to
+alter this style of life, when once he is reduced to it, he becomes
+habitually what is styled a "man-eater," and from this circumstance has
+arisen the idea that when a lion has once tasted human flesh he prefers
+it to any other.  In reality a "man-eater" is an old fellow who cannot
+manage to get anything else to eat, and who might perhaps be more
+appropriately styled a woman and child eater!  When extreme old age
+comes upon him in the remote deserts, far from human habitations, he is
+constrained to appease the cravings of hunger with mice!  The African
+lion is of a tawny colour, like that of some mastiffs.  The mane in the
+male is large, and gives the idea of great power.  In some the ends of
+the hair are black, and these go by the name of black-maned lions, but,
+as a whole, all of them look of a tawny yellow colour.
+
+Having said thus much about his general character and appearance, we
+shall resume the thread of our story, and show how the lions behaved to
+Tom Brown and his friends the very night after the event narrated in the
+last chapter.
+
+The hunters had got back to the wagons, and were about to turn in for
+the night, in order to recruit for the work of the following day, when
+the sky became overcast, and gave every indication of a coming storm.  A
+buffalo bull had been shot by Pearson an hour before the arrival of our
+hero and his companions, and the Caffres were busily engaged on his
+carcass.  A fire had been lighted, the animal cut up, and part of him
+roasted, and the natives alternately ate a lump of roasted flesh and an
+equal quantity of the inside raw!  When the sky began to darken,
+however, they desisted for a time, and set about making preparations for
+the coming storm.
+
+It burst upon them ere long with awful fury and grandeur, the elements
+warring with incredible vehemence.  Rain fell in such floods that it was
+scarcely possible to keep the fires burning, and the night was so pitchy
+dark that the hand could scarcely be seen when held close to the eyes.
+To add to the horror of the scene, crashing peals of thunder appeared to
+rend the sky, and these were preceded by flashes of lightning so vivid
+that each left the travellers with the impression of being stone-blind.
+
+After an hour or two the storm passed by, leaving them drenched to the
+skin.  However, the fires were stirred up, and things made as
+comfortable as circumstances would admit of.
+
+Just a little before daybreak they were all wakened by the bellowing of
+the oxen and the barking of dogs.
+
+"Something there," muttered Hicks, leaping up and seizing his gun.
+
+The major, Tom Brown, Wilkins, Pearson, and the others were immediately
+on their feet and wide awake.  There was just light enough to
+distinguish objects dimly when close at hand; but the surrounding woods
+resembled a wall of impenetrable darkness.  Close to the wagon in which
+our hero lay the natives had erected a temporary hut of grass, about six
+feet high.  On the top of this he saw a dark form, which, by the sound
+of his voice, he recognised to be that of a native named Jumbo, who was
+more noted for good nature and drollery than for courage.  He was
+shouting lustily for a percussion-cap.  Tom sprang on the top of the hut
+and supplied him with several caps, at the same time exclaiming:--
+
+"Hallo!  Jumbo, don't make such a row.  You'll scare everything away."
+
+"Ho!  Me wish um could," said Jumbo, his teeth chattering in his head
+with fear as he listened to the dying groans of a poor ox, and heard the
+lions growling and roaring beside him.  They were not more than fourteen
+yards off, but so dark was the night that they could not be seen.  The
+ox, however, which was a black one, was faintly distinguishable; Tom
+Brown therefore aimed, as near as he could guess, about a foot above him
+and fired.  No result followed.  He had evidently missed.  While he was
+re-loading, the major and Wilkins rushed forward and leaped on the hut,
+exclaiming eagerly, "Where are they? have you hit?"  Immediately
+afterwards, Pearson, Brand, Ogilvie, and Anson rushed up and attempted
+to clamber on the hut.
+
+"No room here," cried the major, resisting them, "quite full outside--
+inside not safe!"
+
+"But there's no room on the wagon," pleaded Pearson; "the niggers are
+clustering on it like monkeys."
+
+"Can't help it," replied the major, "there's not an inch of--"
+
+Here a tremendous roar interrupted him, and a loud report followed, as
+Jumbo and Wilkins, having caught sight of "something" near the carcass,
+fired simultaneously.  Pearson and his companions in trouble vanished
+like smoke, while the major, failing to see anything, fired in the
+direction of the lions on chance.  Tom also fired at what he felt
+convinced was the head of a lioness.  Still the animals appeared to be
+unhurt and indifferent!  The sportsmen were busy loading when Tom became
+aware, for one instant, that something was moving in the air.  Next
+moment he was knocked backwards off the hut, head over heels, several
+times, having been struck full in the chest by a lion's head.  Half
+inclined to believe that he was killed he scrambled to his feet, still
+holding fast to his gun, however, like a true hunter, and rushed towards
+the wagon, where he found all the Caffres who could not get inside
+sticking on the outside, as Pearson had said, like monkeys.  There was
+literally no room for more, but Tom cared not for that.  He seized legs,
+arms, and hair indiscriminately, and in another moment was on the top of
+the living mass.  He had leaped very smartly to this point of vantage,
+nevertheless he found Jumbo there before him, chattering worse than
+ever!  The major and and Wilkins came up breathless next moment,
+clambered halfway up, slipped, and fell to the ground with a united
+roar; but making a second attempt, they succeeded in getting up.
+Wilkins at once presented in the direction of the lions and again fired.
+Whether any of them fell is a matter of dispute, but certain it is that
+Wilkins fell, for the recoil of the gun knocked him back, his footing
+being insecure, and he went down on the top of a tent which had been
+pitched on the other side of the wagon, and broke the pole of it.  After
+this several more shots were fired, apparently without success.  While
+they were reloading a lion leaped on a goat, which was tethered to the
+grass-hut, and carried it away before any one could fire.  Not daring to
+descend from their places of security, there the whole party sat in the
+cold during the remainder of that night, listening to the growling of
+the lions as they feasted on their prey.  It was not till grey dawn
+appeared that the enemy beat a retreat, and allowed the shivering
+travellers to get once more between the blankets.  They had not lain
+long, however, when a double shot aroused them all, and they rushed out
+to find that Mafuta had killed a lioness!  She was a splendid creature,
+and had succumbed to a bullet sent through her ribs.  It was found on
+examination that another ball had hit her just behind the head, and
+travelling along the spine, had stuck near the root of the tail.
+
+"Me no hab fire at head," said Mafuta, with a disappointed look.  "Me
+hit him in ribs wid wan bar'l, an' miss him wid tother."
+
+"What is that you say?" cried Tom Brown examining the bullet-hole; "ha!
+I claim that lioness, because I fired at her head last night, and there
+you have the bullet-hole."
+
+"Cut out the ball and see," said Hicks, drawing his knife.
+
+When the ball was extracted it was indeed found to have been fired from
+Tom's gun, so, according to sporting law in that region, which ordains
+that he who first draws blood claims the game, the lioness was adjudged
+to belong to Tom.
+
+Our hero returned to his blankets once more, congratulating himself not
+a little on his good fortune, when his attention was arrested by two
+shots in succession at no great distance.  Seizing his gun he ran to the
+place expecting to find that more game had been slain, but he only found
+Hardy standing over one of the oxen which was breathing its last.  The
+lions had driven it mad with terror during the night, and the trader had
+been obliged to shoot it.  This was a great misfortune, for it was about
+the best ox in the train.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+GIVES A FEW HINTS TO WOULD-BE HUNTERS, AND A FRIEND IN NEED IS
+INTRODUCED.
+
+In describing the principal incidents of a long journey, it is
+impossible to avoid crowding them together, so as to give a somewhat
+false impression of the expedition as a whole.  The reader must not
+suppose that our hunters were perpetually engaged in fierce and deadly
+conflict with wild beasts and furious elements!  Although travelling in
+Africa involves a good deal more of this than is to be experienced in
+most other parts of the world, it is not without its periods of calm and
+repose.  Neither must it be imagined that the hunters--whom hitherto we
+have unavoidably exhibited in the light of men incapable of being
+overcome either by fatigues or alarms--were always in robust health,
+ready at any moment to leap into the grasp of a lion or the jaws of a
+crocodile.  Their life, on the whole, was checkered.  Sometimes health
+prevailed in the camp, and all went on well and heartily; so that they
+felt disposed to regard wagon-travelling--in the words of a writer of
+great experience--as a prolonged system of picnicking, excellent for the
+health, and agreeable to those who are not over-fastidious about
+trifles, and who delight in being in the open air.  At other times,
+especially when passing through unhealthy regions, some of their number
+were brought very low by severe illness, and others--even the
+strongest--suffered from the depressing influence of a deadly climate.
+But they were all men of true pluck, who persevered through heat and
+cold, health and sickness, until, in two instances, death terminated
+their career.
+
+It may not be out of place here to make a few remarks for the benefit of
+those ardent spirits who feel desperately heroic and emulative when
+reading at their own firesides, and who are tempted by descriptions of
+adventure to set their hearts on going forth to "do and dare," as others
+have done and dared before them!  All men are not heroes, and in many
+countries men may become average hunters without being particularly
+heroic.  In Norway, for instance, and in North America, any man of
+ordinary courage may become a Nimrod; and even heroes will have
+opportunities afforded them of facing dangers of a sufficiently
+appalling nature, if they choose to throw themselves in their way; but
+in Africa a man must be _really_ a hero if he would come off scatheless
+and with credit.  We have proved this to some extent already, and more
+proof is yet to come.  The dangers that one encounters in hunting there
+are not only very great and sufficiently numerous, but they are
+absolutely unavoidable.  The writer before quoted says on this point: "A
+young sportsman, no matter how great among foxes, pheasants, and hounds,
+would do well to pause before resolving to brave fever for the
+excitement of risking the terrific charge of the elephant.  The step of
+that enormous brute when charging the hunter, though apparently not
+quick, is so long that the pace equals the speed of a good horse at a
+canter.  Its trumpeting or screaming when infuriated is more like what
+the shriek of a French steam-whistle would be to a man standing on the
+dangerous part of a railroad than any other earthly sound.  A horse
+unused to it will sometimes stand shivering instead of taking his rider
+out of danger.  It has happened often that the poor animal's legs do
+their duty so badly that he falls and exposes his rider to be trodden
+into a mummy; or losing his presence of mind, the rider may allow the
+horse to dash under a tree, and crack his cranium against a branch.  As
+one charge of an elephant has often been enough to make embryo hunters
+bid a final adieu to the chase, incipient Nimrods would do well to try
+their nerves by standing on railways till the engines are within a few
+yards of them, before going to Africa!"
+
+Begging pardon for this digression, we return to our tale.  While our
+sportsmen were advancing in company with the bullock-wagons one evening,
+at the close of a long and trying day, in which they had suffered a good
+deal from want of good water, they fell in with another party travelling
+in the opposite direction, and found that they belonged to the train of
+a missionary who had been on an expedition into the interior.
+
+They gladly availed themselves of the opportunity thus afforded of
+encamping with a countryman, and called a halt for the night at a spot
+where a desert well existed.
+
+As they sat round the fire that night, the missionary gave them some
+interesting and useful information about the country and the habits of
+the animals, as well as the condition of the natives.
+
+"Those who inhabit this region," said he, "have always been very
+friendly to us, and listen attentively to instruction conveyed to them
+in their own tongue.  It is, however, difficult to give an idea to an
+Englishman of the little effect produced by our teaching, because no one
+can realise the degradation to which their minds have sunk by centuries
+of barbarism and hard struggling for the necessaries of life.  Like most
+other savages, they listen with respect and attention to our talk; but
+when we kneel down and address an unseen Being, the position and the act
+often appear to them so ridiculous, that they cannot refrain from
+bursting into uncontrollable laughter.  After a short time, however,
+they get over this tendency.  I was once present when a brother
+missionary attempted to sing in the midst of a wild heathen tribe of
+natives who had no music in their composition, and the effect on the
+risible faculties of the audience was such that the tears actually ran
+down their cheeks."
+
+"Surely, if this be so," said Tom Brown, "it is scarcely worth your
+while to incur so much labour, expense, and hardship for the sake of
+results so trifling."
+
+"I have not spoken of results, but of beginnings," replied the
+missionary.  "Where our efforts have been long-continued we have,
+through God's blessing, been successful, I sincerely believe, in
+bringing souls to the Saviour.  Of the effects of long-continued
+instruction there can be no reasonable doubt, and a mere nominal belief
+has never been considered by any body of missionaries as a sufficient
+proof of conversion.  True, our progress has been slow, and our
+difficulties have been great; but let me ask, my dear sir, has the
+slowness of your own journey to this point, and its great difficulty,
+damped your ardour or induced you to think it scarcely worth your while
+to go on?"
+
+"Certainly not," replied Tom; "I don't mean to give in yet.  I confess
+that our `bag' is not at present very large--nothing compared to what
+some sportsmen have had; but then if we persevere for a few months we
+are almost certain to succeed, whereas in your case the labour of many
+years seems to have been very much in vain."
+
+"Not in vain," answered the other, "our influence has been powerfully
+felt, although the results are not obviously clear to every one who
+casts a mere passing glance at us and our field of labour.  But you
+speak of persevering labour in hunting as being almost certain of
+success, whereas we missionaries are _absolutely_ certain of it, because
+the Word, which cannot err, tells us that our labour is not in vain in
+the Lord, and, besides, even though we had no results at all to point
+to, we have the command, from which, even if we would, we cannot escape,
+`Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.'"
+
+"Well, sir," said the major, with the air of a man who highly approves
+of the philanthropic efforts of all men, so long as they do not
+interfere with the even tenor of his own way, "I am sure that your
+disinterested labours merit the gratitude of all good men, and I
+heartily wish you success.  In the course of your remarks to-night you
+have happened to mention that peculiar bird the ostrich.  May I ask if
+you have seen many of late?"
+
+The missionary smiled at this very obvious attempt to change the subject
+of conversation, but readily fell in with the major's humour, and
+replied--
+
+"Oh yes, you will find plenty of them in the course of a few days, if
+you hold on the course you are going."
+
+"Is it true that he goes at the pace of a railway locomotive?" asked
+Wilkins.
+
+"It is not possible," replied the missionary, laughing, "to give a
+direct answer to that question, inasmuch as the speed of the locomotive
+varies."
+
+"Well, say thirty miles an hour," said Wilkins.
+
+"His pace is not far short of that," answered the other.  "When walking,
+his step is about twenty-six inches long, but when terrified and forced
+to run, his stride is from twelve to fourteen feet in length.  Once I
+had a pretty fair opportunity of counting his rate of speed with a
+stop-watch, and found that there were about thirty steps in ten seconds;
+this, taking his average stride at twelve feet, gives a speed of
+twenty-six miles an hour.  Generally speaking, one's eye can no more
+follow the legs than it can the spokes of a carriage wheel in rapid
+motion."
+
+"I do hope we may succeed in falling in with one," observed the major.
+
+"If you do there is not much chance of your shooting it," said the
+missionary.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because he is so difficult to approach.  Usually he feeds on some open
+spot where no one can approach him without being detected by his wary
+eye.  However, you have this in your favour, that his stupidity is
+superior to his extreme caution.  If a wagon should chance to move along
+far to windward of him, he evidently thinks it is trying to circumvent
+him, for instead of making off to leeward, as he might easily do, he
+rushes up to windward with the intention of passing _ahead_ of the
+wagon, and sometimes passes so near the front oxen that one may get a
+shot at the silly thing.  I have seen this stupidity of his taken
+advantage of when he was feeding in a valley open at both ends.  A
+number of men would commence running as if to cut off his retreat from
+the end through which the wind came, and although he had the whole
+country hundreds of miles before him by going to the other end, he
+rushed madly on to get past the men, and so was speared, for it is one
+of his peculiarities that he never swerves from the course he has once
+adopted, but rushes wildly and blindly forward, anxious only to increase
+his speed.  Sometimes a horseman may succeed in killing him by cutting
+across his undeviating course.  It is interesting to notice a
+resemblance between this huge bird and our English wild duck or plover.
+I have several times seen newly-hatched young in charge of a
+cock-ostrich who made a very good attempt at appearing lame in order to
+draw off the attention of pursuers.  The young squat down and remain
+immoveable, when too small to run far, but they attain a wonderful
+degree of speed when about the size of common fowls.  It requires the
+utmost address of the bushmen, creeping for miles on their stomach, to
+stalk them successfully; yet the quantity of feathers collected annually
+shows that the numbers slain must be considerable, as each bird has only
+a few feathers in the wings and tail."
+
+"Well," observed the major, shaking the ashes out of his pipe, "your
+account of the bird makes me hope that we shall fall in with him before
+our expedition is over."
+
+"Do you mean to be out long?"
+
+"As long as we can manage, which will be a considerable time," answered
+the major, "because we are well supplied with everything, except, I
+regret to say, medicine.  The fact is that none of us thought much about
+that, for we have always been in such a robust state of health that we
+have scarce believed in the possibility of our being knocked down; but
+the first few weeks of our journey hither taught some of us a lesson
+when too late."
+
+"Ah, we are often taught lessons when too late," said the missionary;
+"however, it is not too late on this occasion, for I am happy to say
+that I can supply you with all the physic you require."
+
+The major expressed much gratification on hearing this, and indeed he
+felt it, for the country into which they were about to penetrate was
+said to be rather unhealthy.
+
+"You are very kind, sir," he said; "my companions and I shall feel
+deeply indebted to you for this opportune assistance."
+
+"Are you quite sure," asked the missionary pointedly, "that you are
+supplied with everything else that you require?"
+
+"I think so," replied the major.  "Let me see--yes, I don't know that we
+need anything more, now that you have so kindly offered to supply us
+with physic, which I had always held, up to the period of my residence
+in Africa, was fit only to be thrown to the dog."
+
+The missionary looked earnestly in the major's face, and said--
+
+"Excuse me, sir, have you got a Bible?"
+
+"Well--a--really, my dear sir," he replied, somewhat confusedly, "I must
+confess that I have not.  The fact is, that it is somewhat inconvenient
+to carry books in such regions, and I did not think of bringing a Bible.
+Perhaps some one of our party may have one, however."
+
+None of the party replied to the major's look except Tom Brown, who
+quietly said--
+
+"There is one, I believe, in the bottom of my trunk; one of my sisters
+told me she put it there, but I cannot say positively that I have seen
+it."
+
+"Will you accept of one?" said the missionary, rising; "we start at an
+early hour in the morning, and before going I would like to remind you,
+gentlemen, that eternity is near--nearer perchance than we suppose to
+some of us, and that medicine is required for the soul even more than
+for the body.  Jesus Christ, the great Physician, will teach you how to
+use it, if you will seek advice from himself.  I feel assured that you
+will not take this parting word ill.  Good night, gentlemen.  I will
+give the drugs to your guide before leaving, and pray that God may
+prosper you in your way and give you success."
+
+There was a long silence round the camp-fire after the missionary had
+left.  When night closed in, and the sportsmen had retired to rest, the
+minds of most of them dwelt somewhat seriously on the great truth which
+he had stated--that medicine is needed not only for the body but the
+soul.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+DESCRIBES RIVER HUNTING.
+
+"Well, major, what are your orders for the day?" asked Tom Brown one
+fine morning after breakfast, while they were enjoying their usual pipe
+under the shade of a large umbrageous tree.
+
+"You'd better try the river that we have just come to," said the major.
+
+"Do you think me amphibious, that you should always assign me that
+work?" asked Tom.
+
+"Not exactly, Tom, but I know you are fond of telling fibs, and perhaps
+the amphibious animals may afford you some scope in that way.  At all
+events they are capable of such astonishing feats that if you merely
+relate the truth about them you will be sure to get credit in England
+for telling fibs--like poor Mungo Park, who was laughed at all his life
+for a notorious drawer of the long-bow, although there never was a more
+truthful man."
+
+"People won't judge _us_ so harshly, major," said Wilkins; "for so many
+African travellers have corroborated Mungo Park's stories that the truth
+is pretty well known and believed by people of average education.  But
+pray is it your lordship's pleasure that I should accompany Tom?  You
+know he cannot take care of himself, and no one of the party can act so
+powerfully as a check on his inveterate propensity to inordinate smoking
+as myself."
+
+"You must have studied Johnson's dictionary very closely in your
+boyhood," said Tom, puffing a prolonged cloud as a termination to the
+sentence.
+
+"But, major, if you do condemn me to his company, please let us have
+Mafuta again, for Wilkins and I are like two uncongenial stones, and he
+acts as lime to keep us together."
+
+"Don't you think that Hicks had better be consulted before we make
+arrangements?" suggested Pearson.
+
+"Hear, hear," cried Ogilvie; "and I should like to know what is to be
+done with Brand and Anson, for they are both very much down with fever
+of some sort this morning."
+
+"Leave Jumbo with them," said Tom Brown; "he's better at nursing than
+hunting.  By the way, was it not he who nursed the native that died last
+night in the kraal?"
+
+"It was, and they say he killed the poor nigger by careless treatment,"
+said Pearson.
+
+"What nigger do you refer to?" asked Ogilvie.
+
+"The one who died--but, I forgot, you were out after that hyena when it
+happened, and so I suppose have not heard of it," said Pearson.  "We had
+a funeral in the village over there last night, and they say that our
+fellow Jumbo, who it seems was once a friend of the sick man, offered to
+sit up with him last night.  There is a rumour that he was an enemy of
+Jumbo's, and that our cowardly scoundrel made this offer in order to
+have an opportunity of killing him in a quiet way.  Hicks even goes the
+length of saying he is sure that Jumbo killed him, for when he saw the
+sick man last he was under the impression what he had got the turn, and
+gave him a powder that would have been certain to cure--"
+
+"Or kill," interrupted Tom Brown; "I've no faith in Hicks's skill as a
+practitioner."
+
+"Of course not," said Wilkins, "proverbial philosophy asserts and
+requires that doctors should disagree."
+
+"Be that as it may," continued Pearson, "the native did die and was
+buried, so that's an end of him, and yonder sits Jumbo eating his
+breakfast at the camp-fire as if he had done a most virtuous action.
+The fact is, I don't believe the reports.  I cannot believe that poor
+Jumbo, coward though he is, would be guilty of such an act."
+
+"Perhaps not," said the major, rising, "but there's no possibility of
+settling the question now, and here comes Hicks, so I'll go and make
+arrangements with him about the day's proceedings."
+
+"They have a primitive mode of conducting funerals here," said Tom Brown
+when the major had left.  "I happened to be up at the kraal currying
+favour with the chief man, for he has the power of bothering us a good
+deal if he chooses, and I observed what they did with this same dead
+man.  I saw that he was very low as I passed the hut where he lay, and
+stopped to look on.  His breath was very short, and presently he fell
+into what either might have been a profound sleep, or a swoon, or death;
+I could not be quite sure which, not being used to black fellows.  I
+would have examined the poor man, but the friends kicked up a great row
+and shoved me off.  Before the breath could have been well out of his
+body, they hoisted him up and carried him away to burial.  I followed
+out of mere curiosity, and found that the lazy rascals had shoved the
+body into an ant-eater's hole in order to save the trouble of digging a
+grave."
+
+While Tom and his friends were thus conversing over their pipes, their
+attention was attracted by a peculiar cry or howl of terror, such as
+they had never heard from any animal of those regions.  Starting up they
+instinctively grasped their guns and looked about them.  The utterer of
+the cry was soon obvious in the person of Jumbo, who had leaped up
+suddenly--overturning his breakfast in the act--and stood gazing before
+him with his eyes starting out of their sockets, his teeth rattling
+together like a pair of castanets, his limbs quivering, and in fact his
+whole person displaying symptoms of the most abject terror of which the
+human frame is capable.
+
+The major and Hicks, who stood not far from him, were both unusually
+pale in the face, as they gazed motionless before them.
+
+The fixedness of their looks directed the eyes of Tom Brown and his
+comrades towards a neighbouring thicket, where they beheld an object
+that was well calculated to inspire dread.  It appeared to be a living
+skeleton covered with a black skin of the most ghastly appearance, and
+came staggering towards them like a drunken man.  As it drew nearer
+Jumbo's limbs trembled more and more violently and his face became of a
+leaden blue colour.  At last he became desperate, turned round, dashed
+right through the embers of the fire, and fled wildly from the spot with
+a howl that ended in a shriek of terror.
+
+"No wonder he's terrified," observed Tom Brown to his alarmed comrades;
+"I felt more than half certain the nigger was not dead last night, and
+now it is beyond question that they had buried him alive.  Jumbo
+evidently thinks it's his ghost!"
+
+"_Won't_ he give his friend a fright?" said Wilkins, on observing that
+the poor man went staggering on in the direction of the kraal.
+
+"He will," said Hicks, laughing; "but they'll make up for their haste by
+taking good care of him now.  I declare I thought for a moment or two
+that it was a real ghost!  Come now, gentlemen, if you want good sport
+you've got the chance before you to-day.  The last party that passed
+this way left an old boat on the river.  I dare say it won't be very
+leaky.  Some of you had better take it and go after the 'potimusses.
+There's plenty of buffalo and elephants in this region also, and the
+natives are anxious to have a dash at them along with you.  Divide
+yourselves as you choose, and I'll go up to make arrangements with the
+old chief."
+
+In accordance with the trader's advice the party was divided.  Tom
+Brown, Wilkins, and Mafuta, as on a former occasion, determined to stick
+together and take to the boat.  The others, under the major, went with
+Hicks and the natives after elephants.
+
+"Another capital stream," remarked Tom to his companion as they emerged
+from the bushes on the banks of a broad river, the surface of which was
+dotted here and there with log-like hippopotami, some of which were
+floating quietly, while others plunged about in the water.
+
+"Capital!" exclaimed Wilkins, "now for the boat!  According to
+directions we must walk upstream till we find it."
+
+As they advanced, they came suddenly on one of the largest crocodiles
+they had yet seen.  It was lying sound asleep on a mud-bank, not
+dreaming, doubtless, of the daring bipeds who were about to disturb its
+repose.
+
+"Hallo!" exclaimed Wilkins, cocking and levelling his gun, "what a
+splendid chance!"
+
+It was indeed a splendid chance, for the brute was twenty feet long at
+least; the rugged knobs of its thick hide showed here and there through
+a coat of mud with which it was covered, and its partially open jaws
+displayed a row of teeth that might have made the lion himself shrink.
+The mud had partially dried in the sun, so that the monster, as it lay
+sprawling, might have been mistaken for a dead carcass, had not a gentle
+motion about the soft parts of his body given evidence of life.
+
+Before Wilkins could pull the trigger, Mafuta seized him by the arm with
+a powerful grip.
+
+"Hold on!" he cried with a look of intense anxiety, "what you go do?
+Fright all de 'potimus away for dis yer crackodl.  Oh fy! go away."
+
+"That's true, Bob," said Tom Brown, who, although he had prepared to
+fire in case of need, intended to have allowed his friend to take the
+first shot; "'twould be a pity to lose our chance of a sea-cow, which is
+good for food, for the sake of a monster which at the best could only
+give us a fine specimen-head for a museum, for his entire body is too
+big to haul about through the country after us."
+
+Well, be it so, said Wilkins, somewhat disappointed, "but I'm determined
+to kick him up anyhow."
+
+Saying this he advanced towards the brute, but again the powerful hand
+of Mafuta seized him.
+
+"What you do? want git kill altogidder?  You is a fool!  (the black had
+lost temper a little).  Him got nuff strong in hims tail to crack off de
+legs of 'oo like stem-pipes.  Yis, kom back?"
+
+Wilkins felt a strong tendency to rebel, and the Caffre remonstrated in
+so loud a voice that the crocodile awoke with a start, and immediately
+convinced the obstinate hunter that he had at least been saved broken
+bones by Mafuta, for he never in his life before had seen anything like
+the terrific whirl that he gave his tail, as he dashed into the water
+some fifteen yards ahead.  Almost immediately afterwards he turned
+round, and there, floating like a log on the stream, took a cool survey
+of the disturbers of his morning's repose!
+
+"It's hard to refuse such an impudent invitation to do one's worst,"
+said Wilkins, again raising his gun.
+
+"No, you mustn't," cried Tom Brown, grasping his friend's arm; "come
+along, I see the bow of the boat among the rushes not far ahead of us,
+and yonder is a hippopotamus, or sea-cow as they call it here, waiting
+to be shot."
+
+Without further delay they embarked in the boat, which, though small,
+was found to be sufficiently tight, and rowed off towards the spot where
+the hippopotamus had been seen.  Presently his blunt ungainly head rose
+within ten feet of them.  Wilkins got such a start that he tripped over
+one of the thwarts in trying to take aim, and nearly upset the boat.  He
+recovered himself, however, in a moment, and fired--sending a ball into
+the brute which just touched the brain and stunned it.  He then fired
+his second barrel, and while he was loading Tom put two more balls into
+it.  It proved hard to kill, however, for they fired alternately, and
+put sixteen bullets--seven to the pound--into different parts of its
+head before they succeeded in killing it.
+
+They towed their prize to the shore, intending to land and secure it,
+when a calf hippopotamus shoved its blunt nose out of the water close at
+hand, gazed stupidly at them and snorted.  Tom at once shot it in the
+head, and it commenced to bellow lustily.  Instantly the mother's head
+cleft the surface of the water as she came up to the rescue and rushed
+at the boat, the gunwale of which she seized in her mouth and pulled it
+under.
+
+"Quick!" shouted Tom, as he fired his second barrel into her ear.
+
+Wilkins did not require to be urged, as the water was flowing into the
+boat like a deluge.  He delivered both shots into her almost
+simultaneously, and induced her to let go!  Another shot from Tom in the
+back of her neck entered the spine and killed her.
+
+By this time a large band of natives had collected, and were gazing
+eagerly on the proceedings.  They had come down from the kraal to enjoy
+the sport and get some of the meat, of which they are particularly fond.
+They were not disappointed in their expectations, for the hippopotami
+were very numerous in that place, and the sportsmen shot well.  Four
+other animals fell before their deadly guns before another hour had
+passed, and as the bay was shallow the natives waded in to drag them
+ashore.
+
+This was a very amusing scene, because crocodiles were so numerous that
+it was only possible for them to accomplish the work safely by entering
+the water together in large numbers, with inconceivable noise, yelling
+and splashing, in order to scare them away.  They would not have
+ventured in singly, or in small numbers, on any account whatever; but on
+the present occasion, being numerous, they were very courageous, and
+joining hands, so as to form a line from the shore to the floating
+animals, soon dragged them out.
+
+As the carcasses belonged to Hicks the trader, these black fellows knew
+well enough that they were not at liberty to do with them as they
+pleased, so they waited as patiently as they could for the glorious
+feast which they fondly hoped was in store for them.
+
+When the sportsmen at last landed to look after their game, they found
+four fine sea-cows and the calf drawn up on the banks, side by side,
+with upwards of a hundred Caffres gazing at them longingly!  Nothing
+could be more courteous than the behaviour of these savages when Mafuta
+cut off such portions as his party required; but no sooner was the
+remainder of the spoil handed over to them than there ensued a scene of
+indescribable confusion.  They rushed at the carcasses like vultures,
+with assegais, knives, sticks, and axes, hallooing, bellowing, shoving,
+and fighting, in a manner that would have done credit to the wildest of
+the wild beasts by which they were surrounded!  Yet there was a distinct
+sense of justice among them.  It was indeed a desperate fight to obtain
+possession, but no one attempted to dispossess another of what he had
+been fortunate enough to secure.  The strongest savages got at the
+carcasses first, and cut off large lumps, which they hurled to their
+friends outside the struggling circle.  These caught the meat thus
+thrown, and ran with it, each to a separate heap, on which he deposited
+his piece and left it in perfect security.
+
+In order to introduce a little more fair play, however, for the benefit
+of the weaker brethren, Mafuta dashed in among them with a terrible
+sjambok, or whip, of rhinoceros hide, which he laid about him with
+wonderful effect.  In a very short time the whole of the meat was
+disposed of, not a scrap being left large enough to satisfy the cravings
+of the smallest conceivable crocodile that ever dwelt in that river!
+
+The effects of this upon the native mind was immediate and satisfactory.
+That night the sportsmen received from the kraal large and gratifying
+gifts of eggs, bread, rice, beer, pumpkins, and all the produce of the
+land.
+
+But we must not forestall.  Before these dainties were enjoyed that
+night the other members of the expedition had to come in with the result
+of their day's hunt.  Let us therefore turn for a little to follow their
+footsteps.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+SHOWS THAT TOO HIGH A PRICE IS SOMETIMES PAID FOR SUCCESS IN HUNTING.
+
+The successful commencement of this part of the day's hunt was somewhat
+curiously brought about by the major.
+
+Most people have a distinct and strong antipathy for some creature which
+has the power of inspiring them with a species of loathing, amounting
+almost to terror.  Some who would face a mad bull coolly enough spring
+with disgust from a cockroach or a centipede.  Others there are who
+would permit a mouse to creep about their person with indifference, but
+would shudder at the bare idea of a frog happening to get under their
+bedclothes.  Now Major Garret's peculiar horror was a serpent.  He was a
+daring man by nature, and experience had made him almost foolhardy.  He
+would have faced a lion, or an enraged elephant, any day without
+flinching, and cared nothing for a buffalo-bull, however mad, provided
+he had a trustworthy gun in his hand; but a serpent would cause him to
+leap into the air like a kangaroo, and if it chanced to come at him
+unawares he would fly from it like the wind, in a paroxysm of horror--if
+not fear!
+
+There was no lack of serpents in that region to trouble the worthy
+major.  Numbers of them, of all kinds and sizes, were to be seen.  One
+in particular, which Mafuta killed with an assegai, was eight feet three
+inches long, and so copiously supplied with poison that one of the dogs
+which attacked it, and was bitten, died almost instantaneously, while
+another died in about five minutes.  Tom Brown, on another occasion,
+knocked over one of the same species, and it continued to distil pure
+poison from the fangs for hours after its head was cut off.  Besides
+these there were the puff-adders, which were very dangerous; and several
+vipers, as well as many other kinds which were comparatively harmless.
+But the poor major's horror was so great as to cause him to regard the
+whole family in one light.  He never paused to observe whether a serpent
+was poisonous.  Enough for him that it was one of the hated race, to be
+killed in a violent hurry or fled from in tremendous haste!
+
+This being the case, it is not to be regarded as a wonder that, when the
+party, early in the day, were passing a thicket out of which glided a
+very large serpent, the major should give a shout and incontinently
+discharge both barrels at it simultaneously.  It chanced to be a python
+of great size, full fifteen feet long, and thicker than a man's thigh,
+but a really harmless species of serpent.  The major, however, did not
+know this, or did not care.  His shots, although fired at random, hit
+the creature in the spine; nevertheless it retained power to raise its
+head fully five feet in the air, and to open its mouth in a very
+threatening manner within a few feet of the major's face.  This was more
+than he could bear.  He turned, dropped his gun, and fled like a maniac,
+while his comrades, who had recognised the species of serpent, stood
+laughing at him heartily.  He did not stop until he dashed headlong into
+a thicket, far away to the right of their line of march.  Here the
+"wait-a-bit" thorns effectually checked his progress.
+
+Now it chanced that in this very thicket, which would have been passed
+by unnoticed but for the python, there was a portly young female
+elephant with a very stout little daughter.  Amazed at the very sudden
+and reckless intrusion of the sportsman, this anxious mother at once
+sounded her war-trumpet and charged.  The major turned and fled back to
+his friends as fast as he had run away from them.  The elephant did not
+follow, but the hunters, having discovered her retreat, were not slow to
+follow and attack her.
+
+As they drew near, the mother elephant set herself on the danger side of
+her little one, and putting her proboscis over it, as if to assure it of
+protection, urged it to run, which it did pretty smartly.  But neither
+of them galloped; their quickest pace was only a sharp walk, which,
+however, was quick enough to oblige the pursuers to run at full speed.
+The big one frequently glanced back, apparently to see if she were
+gaining ground, and then looked at her young one and ran after it,
+sometimes sideways, as if her feelings were divided between anxiety to
+protect her offspring and desire to revenge the temerity of her
+persecutors.  The hunters kept about a hundred yards in her rear, and as
+they were pretty sure of securing her, the European sportsmen held back,
+in order to have an opportunity of witnessing the method of attack
+practised by the band of natives who were with them.
+
+Presently they came to a rivulet, and the time spent by the elephants in
+descending and getting up the opposite bank enabled the natives to get
+within twenty yards of them, when they discharged their spears at them.
+The old one received the most of these in various parts of her body, for
+she did her best to shield the young one; but the latter received a few
+notwithstanding.  After the first discharge the old one's sides ran down
+with blood, and in a short time she bristled all over with spears like a
+monstrous porcupine.  She soon seemed to give up all thought of
+defending her young, and began to flee for her life, so that the calf
+was quickly killed; but no sooner did the mother observe this, than all
+fear forsook her; she stopped in her career, turned round, and, with a
+shriek of rage, charged her pursuers, who fled right and left like a
+band of huge black monkeys.  The elephant ran straight on and went right
+through the whole party, but came near no one.  She then continued her
+flight, in the course of which she crossed several rivulets, and at each
+of these received fresh spears.  Several times she turned and charged,
+but never in any ease did she run more than a hundred yards.
+
+Gradually she grew weak from loss of blood, which poured from her like
+rain; and at last, when she was making a charge, she staggered round and
+sank down dead in a kneeling posture.
+
+The natives were overjoyed of course at their success, and at the
+prospect of a baked elephant's foot for supper, and Hicks was much
+pleased with the tusks, which were large and valuable.  He surveyed them
+with a complacent smile, and observed that he had much need of a little
+ivory like that, for the expenses of a trading expedition were very
+heavy.
+
+"But you have reason to expect a good deal in this part of the country,"
+said the major, "if all that is rumoured be true."
+
+"No doubt there is some truth in what is reported; we shall see.
+Meanwhile, yonder goes something to encourage us."
+
+He pointed towards an opening in a thicket close at hand, where an
+elephant was seen running towards them as if ignorant of their presence.
+
+"Some one must be after that fellow," said Hicks.  About a dozen natives
+emerged from the thicket as he spoke.  They were evidently driving the
+elephant, which was a large bull, towards the hunters for the purpose of
+letting them have a good shot; so the latter at once hid themselves.
+When the elephant drew near it seemed to suspect danger ahead, for it
+burned to the right when at a distance of about a hundred yards.  This
+was a great disappointment, so the major, rather than be balked
+altogether, tried a long shot and broke the animal's fore-leg.  Then,
+running after him at a pace which even the supple natives could not
+equal, he got close up and sent a ball into his head, which stunned him;
+but it took four additional shots to kill him.
+
+This was an unusually fortunate case, for elephants are not easily
+killed.  The African elephant is in many respects different from that of
+India, and is never killed, like the Ceylon elephant, by a single ball
+in the brain.  Dr Livingstone tells us that on one occasion, when he
+was out with a large party of natives, a troop of elephants were
+attacked by them, and that one of these, in running away, fell into a
+hole, and, before he could extricate himself, an opportunity was allowed
+for all the men to throw their spears.  When the elephant rose he was
+like a huge porcupine, for each of the seventy or eighty men had
+discharged more than one spear at him.  As they had no more, they sent
+for the Doctor to shoot him.  He, anxious to put the animal at once out
+of pain, went up to within twenty yards, rested his gun on an ant-hill,
+so as to take steady aim; but though he fired twelve two-ounce bullets,
+all he had, into different parts, he could not kill it.  As it was
+getting dark, they were obliged to leave it standing there, intending to
+return in the morning in the full expectation of finding it dead; but
+though they searched all that day, and went over more than ten miles of
+ground, they never saw it again!
+
+The female elephant killed by our hunters at this time was a
+comparatively small one.  Its height was eight feet eight inches.  Many
+of those which were afterwards killed were of much greater height.
+Indian elephants never reach to the enormous size of the African
+elephant, which is distinguished from that of India by a mark that
+cannot be mistaken, namely, the ear, which in the African species is
+enormously large.  That of the female just killed measured four feet
+five inches in length and four feet in breadth.  A native has been seen
+to creep under an elephant's ear so as to be quite covered from the
+rain.  The African elephant has never been tamed at the Cape, nor has
+one ever been exhibited in England.
+
+But to return to our hunters.  Before that day had closed, the major and
+his friends had made good bags.  The total result of the day's hunt by
+both parties was, five sea-cows, four elephants, two buffaloes, a
+giraffe, and a number of birds of various kinds.
+
+Of course this set the natives of the kraal into a ferment of joyous
+festivity, and the sportsmen rose very high in their estimation,
+insomuch that they overwhelmed them with gifts of native produce.  Our
+hero was an especial favourite, because, on several occasions, he turned
+his medical and surgical knowledge to good account, and afforded many of
+them great relief from troubles which their own doctors had failed to
+cure or charm away.
+
+Some time after this, when they were travelling through a comparatively
+dry district, they encamped near a pool of water, and the sights they
+saw there were most amazing; for all the animals in the neighbourhood
+flocked to the pool to slake their burning thirst.
+
+After supper, instead of going to rest, Tom Brown and most of the party
+resolved to go and watch this pool--the moon being bright at the time.
+They had not lain long in ambush beside it when a troop of elephants
+came rushing into it, and began to drink with great avidity, spirting
+the water over each other and shrieking with delight.  For some hours
+the hunters remained on the watch there, and saw animals of all kinds
+come down to drink--antelopes, zebras, buffaloes, etcetera, in great
+numbers.
+
+Thus they passed through the country, enjoying themselves, and adding
+considerably to Hicks's stock of ivory, when an incident occurred which
+threw a deep gloom over the party for some time.
+
+One day they went out after some elephants which were reported to be
+near to their encampment, and about noon rested a little to refresh
+themselves.  They had set out as a united party on this occasion
+accompanied by a large band of natives armed with spears.  Just after
+leaving the spot where they rested, the major discovered that he had
+left his knife behind him, and went back to look for it, in company with
+Tom Brown.  As it was only quarter of a mile off, or less, they
+foolishly left their guns behind them.  On nearing the spot, Tom stopped
+a few moments, and bent down to examine a beautiful flower.  The major
+walked on, but had not gone many paces when three lions walked out of a
+thicket not twenty paces off.  Tom had risen, and saw the lions, and,
+for the first time in his life, felt a sensation about the heart which
+is popularly known as "the blood curdling in the vein."  The major,
+being totally unarmed, stopped, and stood motionless like a statue.  The
+lions stopped also, being evidently taken by surprise at the sudden and
+unexpected apparition of a man!  Had the major turned and fled, it is
+almost certain that his fate would have been sealed, but he stood firm
+as a rock, and Tom observed that he did not even change colour as he
+gazed with a fixed glassy stare at the lions.
+
+Unused to such treatment, the animals winced under it.  Their own
+glances became uneasy; then they turned slowly round and slunk away,
+with the air of creatures which know that they have been doing wrong!
+In a few moments they bounded off at full speed, their pace being
+accelerated by the terrible yell which burst simultaneously from Tom and
+the major, who found intense relief in this violent expression of their
+pent-up feelings!
+
+But this, good reader, is not the gloomy incident to which we have
+referred.  It was just after the occurrence of this minor episode in the
+proceedings of the day, that the party came upon fresh tracks of a troop
+of elephants, and set off in pursuit.  The Englishmen were on horseback,
+having obtained steeds from a trader whom they had met farther south,
+but the natives--a very large band--were on foot.
+
+While they were advancing through a somewhat open part of the country,
+four lions were seen on the top of a low sandhill, which was covered
+with bushes and a few stunted trees.  It was at once resolved that they
+should be surrounded.  Accordingly, the natives were ordered to form a
+wide ring round the hill.
+
+"Now," said Hicks, who assumed command of the party in virtue of his
+superior knowledge, "we must separate and advance from different
+directions, and be sure, gentlemen, that you don't shoot the niggers.
+Look well before you.  That hollow is a very likely place for one of
+them to run along, therefore the best shot among you had better go up
+there.  Who is the best shot?"
+
+The trader smiled knowingly, for he knew that the major esteemed himself
+the best.
+
+"I think I am," said Wilkins, with an air of great simplicity.
+
+There was a general laugh at this, for it was well known that Wilkins
+was the worst shot of the party.
+
+"Well, now," said he with a good-natured smile, "since you have insulted
+me so grossly, I think myself entitled to name the best man; I therefore
+suggest Tom Brown."
+
+"Right," said Pearson.
+
+The others being all agreed, Tom consented, with becoming modesty, to
+take the post of honour and of danger.
+
+"Are we to ride or walk?" he asked.
+
+"Walk, of course," said Hicks.  "The ground is much too rough for
+horses."
+
+"And I trust, Tom," said Wilkins, "that you will permit me to follow
+you.  I am the worst shot, you know, and the worst and best should go
+together on the acknowledged principle that extremes meet."
+
+This being arranged, the sportsmen dismounted, fastened their horses to
+trees, and separated.
+
+The circle of men gradually closed in and ascended the hill pretty near
+to each other.  Presently Tom Brown observed one of the lions get upon a
+piece of rock.  The major also saw him, and being anxious to secure the
+first shot, fired somewhat hastily and hit the rock on which the
+magnificent brute was standing, as if it had got up there to take a cool
+survey of the field.  He bit at the spot struck, as a dog bites at a
+stick or stone thrown at him.  Next moment Tom Brown sent a bullet
+straight into his heart, and his tail made a splendid flourish as he
+fell off his pedestal!
+
+Almost immediately after two of the other lions broke cover, dashed
+towards the circle of men, went right through them and escaped.  The
+courage of the natives proved unequal to the danger of facing such a
+charge.  A great shout--partly, no doubt, of disappointment--was given
+when the lions escaped.  This had the effect of causing the fourth lion
+to break cover and leap upon a rock as the first had done.  The hunter
+nearest to him was Pearson, who was not farther off than shout thirty
+yards.  He took good aim, fired both barrels at him, and tumbled him off
+the rock into a small bush beside it.
+
+"He is wounded," cried Hicks, "but not killed.  Have a care!"
+
+Pearson was loading his gun as fast as possible, when he heard a loud
+shout, and cries of "Look out!"  "Take care!"  Starting, and turning
+half round, he saw the animal in the act of springing on him.  Before he
+could move he was struck on the head, and next moment the lion and he
+went down together.  Growling horribly, the enraged brute seized poor
+Pearson and shook him as a terrier dog shakes a rat.  Although stunned,
+he was able to turn a little to relieve himself of its weight, for the
+lion had placed one paw on the back of his head.  Instantly the major,
+Tom Brown, and Hicks ran up and fired six shots into him almost
+simultaneously, and at a few yards' distance.  With a terrific roar he
+left Pearson, and, springing on Hicks, caught him by the leg.  Mafuta
+immediately rushed at him with a spear, but was caught by the lion on
+the shoulder, and dragged down.  Seeing this, Tom Brown caught up the
+spear and plunged it deep into the chest of the brute, which seized it
+savagely in his teeth and snapped it in two like a twig, throwing Tom
+down in the act; but another bullet from Wilkins, and the effects of the
+previous shots, caused him to drop down suddenly quite dead.
+
+It was found on examination that the injuries received by poor Pearson
+were mortal.  As could just speak, but could not move.  A litter was
+therefore hastily prepared for him, and one also for Hicks, whose leg
+was severely injured, though fortunately not broken.  Mafuta's hurts
+were trifling, and Tom Brown had only received one or two scratches in
+his fall.  In a short time the litters were ready, and the party
+returned to their encampment.
+
+That night Pearson expressed a strong desire to have the Bible read to
+him, and Tom Brown, who had done all that professional skill could
+accomplish to relieve his comrade's suffering body, sought out from the
+bottom of his box that precious book which the missionary had told him
+contained medicine for the soul.  The dying man was very anxious.  As
+gave Tom no rest, but questioned him eagerly and continuously during the
+whole night about the things which concerned his soul.  His doctor could
+not assist him much, and keenly did he feel, at that time, how awful it
+is to postpone thoughts of eternity to a dying hour.  As did his best,
+however, to comfort his friend, by reading passage after passage from
+the sacred book, dwelling particularly on, and repeating, this
+text--"The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth from all sin."
+Towards morning Pearson fell into a lethargic sleep, out of which he
+never awoke.  Next day they buried him under the shade of a spreading
+tree, and left him there--alone in the wilderness.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+THE LAST.
+
+From this period everything like good fortune seemed to forsake the
+hunters.  The trader's wound became so painful that he resolved to
+return to the settlements, and accordingly their faces were turned
+southward.
+
+But the way was toilsome, the heat intense, and the water scarce--more
+so than it had been on the outward journey.  To add to their troubles,
+fever and ague attacked most of the white men, and one of them (Ogilvie)
+died on the journey.
+
+At last Tom Brown, who had up to that time been one of the strongest of
+the party, broke down, and it was found to be necessary to leave him
+behind at a native village, for it would have been certain death to the
+others to have remained with him, and their doing so could have done him
+no good.
+
+"I cannot tell you, Tom," said the major, as he sat beside his friend's
+couch the night before they parted, "how deeply it grieves me to leave
+you in this way, but you see, my dear fellow, that the case is
+desperate.  You are incapable of moving.  If we remain here the most of
+us will die, for I find that it is all I can do to drag one leg after
+the other, and I have grave doubts as to whether I shall ever get out of
+this rascally country alive.  As to poor Bob Wilkins, he is in a worse
+condition than myself.  Now, our intention is to leave you all the
+physic, push on as fast as possible to the nearest settlement, where we
+shall get more for ourselves, and send out a party of natives under some
+trustworthy trader to fetch you out of the country."
+
+"You are very kind, major," said Tom languidly, "but I cannot allow you
+to leave me all the physic.  Your own life may depend on having some of
+it, and--"
+
+"There, don't exhaust yourself, Tom, with objections, for Bob and I have
+made up our minds to do it.  The very fact that every day we are getting
+nearer the habitable parts of the world will keep our spirits up and
+give us strength, and you may depend upon it, my poor fellow, that we
+won't waste time in sending help to you."
+
+The major's voice trembled a little, for he had become very weak, and
+had secret misgivings that he would never see his friend again.
+
+"We are going to leave Mafuta with you," he added quickly.
+
+"That's right," exclaimed Tom, with an expression of satisfaction.  "If
+any one is able to pull me through this bout, Mafuta is the man.  By the
+way, major, will you do me the favour to open my portmanteau and fetch
+me the Bible you will find there.  I mean to read it.  Do you know I
+have been thinking that we are great fools to keep calling ourselves
+Christians when we have scarcely any of the signs of Christianity about
+us, and particularly in putting off the consideration of our souls'
+interests to a time like this?"
+
+"Upon my word, Tom, I agree with you," said the major.
+
+"Well, then," said Tom, "like a good fellow, get the Bible for me, and
+let me advise you as a friend to make use of the one the missionary gave
+you.  I mean to turn over a new leaf.  My only fear is that if I get
+well I shall become as indifferent as I was before."
+
+"No fear of that, Tom, you are much too honest-hearted to be so
+changeable."
+
+"H'm, I don't know," said Tom, with an attempt at a smile; "I should not
+be easy if my salvation depended on the honesty of my heart.  I rather
+fear, major, that your method of comforting me is not what the
+missionary would call orthodox.  But good night, old fellow; I feel
+tired, and find it wonderfully difficult not only to speak but to think,
+so I'll try to sleep."
+
+Saying this our hero turned on his side and soon fell into a quiet
+slumber, out of which he did not awake until late the following morning.
+
+The major, meanwhile, sought for and found the Bible in his portmanteau,
+and laid it on his pillow, so that he might find it there on awaking.
+For a long time he and Wilkins sat by the sick man's side next morning,
+in the hope of his awaking, that they might bid him good-bye; but Tom
+did not rouse up, so, being unwilling to disturb him, they left without
+having the sad satisfaction of saying farewell.
+
+When Tom Brown awoke, late in the day, he found Mafuta sitting at his
+feet with a broad grin on his dusky countenance.
+
+"What are you laughing at, you rascal?" demanded Tom, somewhat sternly.
+
+"Me laffin' at you's face!"
+
+"Indeed, is it then so ridiculous?"
+
+"Yis, oh yis, you's bery ri'clous.  Jist no thicker dan de edge ob
+hatchet."
+
+Tom smiled.  "Well, I'm not fat, that's certain; but I feel refreshed.
+D'you know, Mafuta, I think I shall get well after all."
+
+"Ho, yis," said Mafuta, with a grin, nodding his woolly head violently,
+and displaying a magnificent double row of teeth; "you's git well; you
+had slep an' swet mos' bootiful.  Me wish de major see you now."
+
+"The major; is he gone?"
+
+"Yis, hoed off dis morrownin."
+
+"And Mr Wilkins?"
+
+"Hoed off too."
+
+Tom Brown opened his eyes and stared silently for a few minutes at his
+companion.
+
+"Then we are all alone, you and I," he said suddenly.
+
+"Yis, all alone, sept de two tousand Caffres ob de kraal; but dey is
+nobody--only black beasts."
+
+Tom laughed to hear his attendant talk so scornfully of his countrymen,
+and Mafuta laughed to see his master in such good spirits; after which
+the former became grave, and, feeling a slight twinge of hunger, made a
+sudden demand for food.  Mafuta rose and left the tent, and Tom, turning
+on his side, observed the Bible lying on the pillow.  He opened it, but
+forgot to read, in consequence of his attention being arrested by the
+extreme thinness of his hands.  Recovering himself, he turned to the
+twenty-first psalm, but had only read the first verse when the book
+dropt from his fingers, and he again fell sound asleep.
+
+This was the turning-point in his illness.  He began to mend a little,
+but so slowly, that he almost lost heart once or twice; and felt
+convinced that if he did not make an attempt to get out of the unhealthy
+region, he should never regain strength.
+
+Acting on this belief, he left the native village on foot, carrying
+nothing but his rifle, which seemed to him, in his weak condition, to be
+as heavy as a small cannon.  Mafuta went on in advance, heavily laden
+with the blankets, a small tent, provisions, ammunition, etcetera,
+necessary for the journey.
+
+At first Tom could scarcely walk a mile without sitting down several
+times to rest, on which occasions Mafuta endeavoured to cheer him up by
+threatening to leave him to his fate!  This was a somewhat singular mode
+of stimulating, but he deemed it the wisest course, and acted on it.
+When Tom lay down under the shade of a tree, thoroughly knocked up, the
+Caffre would bid him farewell and go away; but in a short time he would
+return and urge him to make another attempt!
+
+Thus Tom Brown travelled, day after day, under the broiling sun.  During
+that period--which he afterwards described as the most dreadful of his
+life--fever and ague reduced him to a state of excessive weakness.  In
+fact it was a battle between the dire disease and that powerful
+constitution for which the Brown family is celebrated.  For a
+considerable time it appeared very doubtful how the battle would end.
+
+One morning Tom was awakened by his faithful attendant to resume his
+weary journey.  He got up with a heavy sigh, and almost fell down again
+from weakness.
+
+"I think, Mafuta," said Tom gravely, "that I'm pretty nearly used up.
+You'll have to leave me, I fear, and make the best of your way out of
+this wretched country alone."
+
+"Dis a fuss-rate kontry," said the Caffre quietly.
+
+"Ah, true, Mafuta, I forgot for a moment that it is your native land.
+However, I am bound to admit that it is a first-rate country for sport--
+also for killing Englishmen.  I don't feel able to move a step."
+
+Tom sat down as he said this, and, uttering a sort of groan, leaned his
+back against a tree.
+
+"W'at, yous no' go fadder?"
+
+"No," said Tom, with some asperity, for he felt too much exhausted to
+speak.
+
+"Berry good, me say good-bye."
+
+Mafuta nodded his head as he spoke, and, gravely shouldering his load,
+marched away.
+
+Tom looked after him with a melancholy smile; for he quite understood
+the _ruse_ by this time, and knew that he would return, although the
+simple native sincerely believed that his motives and intentions had
+been concealed with deep wisdom.  Tom was not sorry to get a respite,
+and threw himself flat down, in order to make the most of it, but Mafuta
+was more anxious than usual about his companion that morning.  He
+returned in ten minutes or so, having sat for that period behind a
+neighbouring tree to brood over his circumstances.
+
+"Yous come on _now_, eh?" he said gently, regarding Tom with an anxious
+expression of countenance.
+
+"Well, well," replied our hero, getting up with a sort of desperate
+energy, "let's push on; I can at all events walk till my legs refuse to
+carry me, and then it will not be I who shall have given in, but the
+legs!--eh, Mafuta?"
+
+Smiling languidly at this conceit, Tom walked on, almost mechanically,
+for nearly twenty miles that day, with scarcely any shelter from the
+sun.
+
+At night he reached a native village, the chief of which considerately
+let him rest in an old hut.  When Tom flung himself down in a corner of
+this, he felt so ill that he called his servant and bade him fetch the
+package which contained his slender stock of medicine.
+
+"Open it, Mafuta, and let's see what we have left.  I'm resolved to make
+some change in myself for better or worse, if I should have to eat up
+the whole affair.  Better be poisoned at once than die by inches in this
+way."
+
+"No more kineen," said the Caffre, as he kneeled by his master's side,
+turning over the papers and bottles.
+
+"No more quinine," repeated Tom sadly; "no more life, that means."
+
+"Not'ing more bot tree imuttics, an' small drop ludnum," said Mafuta.
+
+"Three emetics," said Tom, "and some laudanum; come, I'll try these.
+Mix the whole of 'em in a can, and be quick, like a good fellow; I'll
+have one good jorum whatever happens."
+
+"Bot yous vil bost," said Mafuta remonstratively.
+
+"No fear.  Do as I bid you."
+
+The Caffre obeyed, and Tom swallowed the potion.  The result, however,
+was unsatisfactory, for, contrary to what was anticipated, they produced
+no effect whatever.  To make matters worse, the hut in which they lay
+was overrun with rats, which were not only sleepless and active, but
+daring, for they kept galloping round the floor all night, and chasing
+one another over Tom's body and face.  After a time he became desperate.
+
+"Here, Mafuta," he cried, "strike a light, and get me a long feather of
+some sort out of a bird's wings."
+
+The wondering native got up and did as he was commanded.
+
+"Now, Mafuta, shove the feather down my throat.  Don't be afraid.  I'll
+give you a dig in the ribs if you go too far."
+
+The result of this operation was speedy and complete.  The sick man was
+relieved.  In a short time he fell into a deep sleep, which lasted for
+several hours.  After this he awoke much refreshed, and having obtained
+some rice from the native chief, ate a little with relish.
+
+Next day they resumed their journey, and travelled till four in the
+afternoon, when the fit of ague prostrated Tom for a couple of hours, as
+it had been in the habit of doing regularly at the same hour for some
+time past, leaving him in a very exhausted state of body, and much
+depressed in spirits.
+
+In the course of a week, however, this extreme depression passed away,
+and he managed to get along; painfully, it is true, but creditably.
+They were fortunate enough, soon after, to meet with a trader, from whom
+our hero purchased two stout horses, and thenceforward the journey
+became more agreeable--at least Tom's returning strength enabled him to
+enjoy it; for it could not be said that the fatigues or privations of
+the way had decreased; on the contrary, in some respects they had
+increased considerably.
+
+One day, while Tom was ambling along the margin of a belt of thick wood,
+with his sable guide riding in advance, he came suddenly in sight of a
+herd of giraffes.  He had been short of fresh meat for a couple of days,
+because, although there was no lack of game, his arm had not become
+sufficiently steady to enable him to take a good aim; and, being
+unwilling to resign the office of hunter to his attendant until reduced
+to the last extremity, he had taken all the chances that occurred, and
+had missed on every occasion!
+
+Being determined not to miss _this_ opportunity, he at once put spurs to
+his steed, and dashed after the giraffes at a breakneck pace.  The
+ground was very rocky, uneven, and full of holes and scrubby bushes.
+The long-necked creatures at once set off at a pace which tried Tom's
+steed, although a good one, to the utmost.  There was a thick forest of
+makolani trees about a mile away to the left, towards which the giraffes
+headed, evidently with the intention of taking refuge there.  Tom
+observed this, and made a detour in order to get between them and the
+wood.  This made it necessary to put on a spurt to regain lost distance,
+but on such ground the speed was dangerous.  He neared one of the
+animals, however, and was standing up in his stirrups, intent on taking
+a flying shot, when his horse suddenly put his foot in a hole, and fell
+so violently that he rolled heels over head several times like a hare
+shot in full career.  Fortunately his rider was sent out of the saddle
+like a rocket, and fell a considerable distance ahead, and out of the
+way of the rolling horse.  A friendly bush received him and saved his
+neck, but tore his coat to tatters.  Jumping up, he presented at the
+giraffe, which was galloping off about two hundred yards ahead.  In the
+fall the barrel of his rifle had been so covered with dead leaves and
+dust that he could not take aim.  Hastily wiping it with his sleeve, he
+presented again and fired.  The ball hit the giraffe on the hip, but it
+failed to bring him down.  A second shot, however, broke his leg, and
+the stately animal rolled over.  Before Tom reached him he was dead.
+
+Thus the travellers were supplied with a sufficiency of meat for some
+days, and they pushed steadily forward without paying attention to the
+game, which happened to be very plentiful in that district, as their
+great desire was to get out of the unhealthy region as quickly as
+possible.  Sometimes, however, they were compelled to shoot in
+self-defence.
+
+Upon one occasion, while Mafuta was looking for water in the bush, he
+was charged by a black rhinoceros, and had a very narrow escape.  Tom
+Brown was within sight of him at the time, engaged also in looking for
+water.  He heard the crash of bushes when the monster charged, and
+looking hastily round, saw Mafuta make a quick motion as if he meant to
+run to a neighbouring tree, but the rhinoceros was so close on him that
+there was no time.
+
+"Quick, man!" shouted Tom, in an agony of alarm as he ran to the rescue,
+for the Caffre had no gun.
+
+But Mafuta, instead of taking this advice, suddenly stood stock still,
+as if he had been petrified!
+
+Tom threw forward his rifle, intending, in desperation, to try the
+effect of a long shot, although certain that it was impossible to kill
+the rhinoceros even if he should hit, while the risk of killing his
+faithful servant was very great.  Before he had time to fire, however,
+the animal ran past the motionless Caffre without doing him any injury!
+
+Whether it is owing to the smallness of its eyes, or to the horns on its
+nose being in the way, we cannot tell, but it is a fact that the black
+rhinoceros does not see well, and Mafuta, aware of this defect, had
+taken advantage of it in a way what is sometimes practised by bold men.
+Had he continued to run he would certainly have been overtaken and
+killed; but, standing perfectly still, he was no doubt taken for a tree
+stump by the animal.  At all events it brushed past him, and Mafuta,
+doubling on his track, ran to a tree, up which he vaulted like a monkey.
+
+Meanwhile Tom Brown got within range, and sent a ball crashing against
+the animal's hard sides without doing it any injury.  The second barrel
+was discharged with no better result, except that a splinter of its horn
+was knocked off.  Before he could reload, the rhinoceros was gone, and
+Tom had to content himself with carrying off the splinter as a memorial
+of the adventure.
+
+That night the travellers made their encampment at the foot of a tree,
+on the lower branches of which they hung up a quantity of meat.  Tom lay
+in a small tent which he carried with him, but Mafuta preferred to sleep
+by the fire outside.
+
+During the day they had seen and heard several lions.  It was therefore
+deemed advisable to picket the horses close to the tent, between it and
+the fire.
+
+"Mafuta," said Tom Brown, as he lay contemplating the fire on which the
+Caffre had just heaped fresh logs, "give me some more tea, and cook
+another giraffe steak.  D'you know I feel my appetite coming back with
+great force?"
+
+"Dat am good," said Mafuta.
+
+"Yes, that is undoubtedly good," said Tom.  "I never knew what it was to
+have a poor appetite until I came to this wonderful land of yours, and I
+assure you that I will not pay it another visit in a hurry--although,
+upon the whole, I'm very well pleased to have hunted in it."
+
+"W'at for you come because of?" asked Mafuta.
+
+"Well, I came for fun, as the little boys in my country say.  I came for
+change, for variety, for amusement, for relaxation, for sport.  Do you
+understand any of these expressions?"
+
+"Me not onderstan' moch," answered Mafuta with great simplicity of
+manner; "bot why you want for change?  Me nivir wants no change?"
+
+"Ah, Mafuta," replied Tom with a smile, "you're a happy man?  The fact
+is, that we civilised people lead artificial lives, to a large extent,
+and, therefore, require a change sometimes to recruit our energies--that
+is, to put us right again, whereas you and your friends live in a
+natural way, and therefore don't require putting right.  D'you
+understand?"
+
+"Not moch," answered the Caffre, gazing into the fire with a puzzled
+look.  "You say we lives nat'ral life an' don't need be put right; berry
+good, why you not live nat'ral life too, an' no need be put right--be
+always right?"
+
+Tom laughed at this.
+
+"It's not easy to answer that question, Mafuta.  We have surrounded
+ourselves with a lot of wants, some of which are right and some wrong.
+For instance, we want clothes, and houses, and books, and tobacco, and
+hundreds of other things, which cost a great deal of money, and in order
+to make the money we must work late and early, which hurts our health,
+and many of us must sit all day instead of walk or ride, so that we get
+ill and require a change of life, such as a trip to Africa to shoot
+lions, else we should die too soon.  In fact, most of our lives consists
+in a perpetual struggle between healthy constitutions and false modes of
+living."
+
+"Dat berry foolish," said Mafuta, shaking his head.  "Me onderstan' dat
+baccy good, _berry_ good, bot what de use of clo'es; why you not go
+nakit? s'pose 'cause you not black, eh?"
+
+"Well, not exactly.  The fact is--"
+
+At this point the conversation was interrupted by the low murmuring
+growl of the lion.  The two men gazed at one another earnestly and
+listened.  Tom quietly laid his hand on his rifle, which always lay
+ready loaded at his side, and Mafuta grasped the handle of the knife
+that hung at his girdle.  For some minutes they remained silent and
+motionless, waiting for a repetition of the sound, while the camp-fire
+glittered brightly, lighting up the expressive countenance of our hero,
+and causing the whites of Mafuta's eyes to glisten.  Again they heard
+the growl much nearer than before, and it became evident that the lion
+was intent on claiming hospitality.  The horses pricked up their ears,
+snuffed the night air wildly, and showed every symptom of being ill at
+ease.  Tom Brown, without rising, slowly cocked his rifle, and Mafuta,
+drawing his knife, showed his brilliant white teeth as if he had been a
+dog.
+
+Gradually and stealthily the king of the forest drew near, muttering to
+himself, as it were, in an undertone.  He evidently did not care to
+disturb the horses, having set his heart upon the meat which hung on the
+tree, and the anxious listeners in the tent heard him attempting to claw
+it down.
+
+Tom Brown was hastily revolving in his mind the best mode of killing or
+scaring away this presumptuous visitor, when the lion, in its wanderings
+round the tree, tripped over one of the lines of the tent, causing it to
+vibrate.  He uttered a growl of dissatisfaction, and seized the cord in
+his teeth.
+
+"Look out, Mafuta!" exclaimed Tom, as he observed the shadow of the
+beast against the curtain.
+
+He fired as he spoke.
+
+A terrific roar followed, the canvas was instantly torn open, and the
+whole tent fell in dire confusion on the top of its inmates.
+
+Tom Brown did not move.  He always acted on the principle of letting
+well alone, and, feeling that he was unhurt, lay as still as a mouse,
+but Mafuta uttered a wild yell, sprang through the rent canvas, and
+bounded up the tree in violent haste.  There he remained, and Tom lay
+quietly under the tent for full ten minutes without moving, almost
+without breathing, but as no sound was heard, our hero at last ventured
+to raise his head.  Then he got slowly upon his knees, and, gently
+removing the incumbent folds of canvas, looked out.  The sight that he
+beheld was satisfactory.  An enormous lion lay stretched out at the font
+of the tree quite dead!  His half random shot at the shadow had been
+most successful, having passed right through the lion's heart.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Not long after this, Tom Brown reached the settlements, where he found
+the major and Wilkins, who had quite recovered from the effects of their
+excursion into the interior, and from whom he learned that a party had
+been sent off in search of himself.
+
+Thereafter he went to the Cape, where he joined his father in business.
+He did not, however, give up hunting entirely, for he belonged to a
+family which, as we have said elsewhere, is so sternly romantic and full
+of animal life that many of its members are led to attempt and to
+accomplish great things, both in the spiritual and physical worlds,
+undamped by repeated rebuffs and failures.  Moreover, he did _not_
+forget his resolutions, or his Bible, after he got well; but we are
+bound to add that he did forget his resolve never again to visit the
+African wilderness, for if report speaks truth, he was seen there many a
+time, in after years, with Mafuta, hunting the lions.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hunting the Lions, by R.M. Ballantyne
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