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diff --git a/2729-0.txt b/2729-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..91a4a4a --- /dev/null +++ b/2729-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1523 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Tale of Three Lions, by H. Rider Haggard + +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: A Tale of Three Lions + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Posting Date: December 3, 2008 [EBook #2729] +Release Date: July, 2001 +Last Updated: September 22, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TALE OF THREE LIONS *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, Emma Dudding, and Dagny + + + + + +A TALE OF THREE LIONS + +By H. Rider Haggard + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE INTEREST ON TEN SHILLINGS + +Most of you will have heard that Allan Quatermain, who was one of the +party that discovered King Solomon’s mines some little time ago, and who +afterwards came to live in England near his friend Sir Henry Curtis. +He went back to the wilderness again, as these old hunters almost +invariably do, on one pretext or another.[*] They cannot endure +civilization for very long, its noise and racket and the omnipresence +of broad-clothed humanity proving more trying to their nerves than the +dangers of the desert. I think that they feel lonely here, for it is +a fact that is too little understood, though it has often been stated, +that there is no loneliness like the loneliness of crowds, especially +to those who are unaccustomed to them. “What is there in the world,” old +Quatermain would say, “so desolate as to stand in the streets of a great +city and listen to the footsteps falling, falling, multitudinous as the +rain, and watch the white line of faces as they hurry past, you know not +whence, you know not whither? They come and go, their eyes meet yours +with a cold stare, for a moment their features are written on your mind, +and then they are gone for ever. You will never see them again; they +will never see you again; they come up out of the unknown, and presently +they once more vanish into the unknown, taking their secrets with them. +Yes, that is loneliness pure and undefiled; but to one who knows and +loves it, the wilderness is not lonely, because the spirit of nature +is ever there to keep the wanderer company. He finds companions in the +winds--the sunny streams babble like Nature’s children at his feet; high +above them, in the purple sunset, are domes and minarets and palaces, +such as no mortal man has built, in and out of whose flaming doors the +angels of the sun seem to move continually. And there, too, is the wild +game, following its feeding-grounds in great armies, with the springbuck +thrown out before for skirmishers; then rank upon rank of long-faced +blesbuck, marching and wheeling like infantry; and last the shining +troops of quagga, and the fierce-eyed shaggy vilderbeeste to take, as it +were, the place of the cossack host that hangs upon an army’s flanks. + + [*] This of course was written before Mr. Quatermain’s + account of the adventures in the newly-discovered country of + Zu-Vendis of himself, Sir Henry Curtis, and Capt. John Good + had been received in England.--Editor. + +“Oh, no,” he would say, “the wilderness is not lonely, for, my boy, +remember that the further you get from man, the nearer you grow to God,” + and though this is a saying that might well be disputed, it is one I am +sure that anybody will easily understand who has watched the sun rise +and set on the limitless deserted plains, and seen the thunder chariots +of the clouds roll in majesty across the depths of unfathomable sky. + +Well, at any rate we went back again, and now for many months I have +heard nothing at all of him, and to be frank, I greatly doubt if anybody +will ever hear of him again. I fear that the wilderness, that has for so +many years been a mother to him, will now also prove his grave and the +grave of those who accompanied him, for the quest upon which he and they +have started is a wild one indeed. + +But while he was in England for those three years or so between +his return from the successful discovery of the wise king’s buried +treasures, and the death of his only son, I saw a great deal of old +Allan Quatermain. I had known him years before in Africa, and after +he came home, whenever I had nothing better to do, I used to run up to +Yorkshire and stay with him, and in this way I at one time and another +heard many of the incidents of his past life, and most curious some of +them were. No man can pass all those years following the rough existence +of an elephant-hunter without meeting with many strange adventures, +and in one way and another old Quatermain has certainly seen his share. +Well, the story that I am going to tell you in the following pages is +one of the later of these adventures, though I forget the exact year +in which it happened, at any rate I know that it was the only trip upon +which he took his son Harry (who is since dead) with him, and that Harry +was then about fourteen. And now for the story, which I will repeat, as +nearly as I can, in the words in which Hunter Quatermain told it to me +one night in the old oak-panelled vestibule of his house in Yorkshire. +We were talking about gold-mining-- + +“Gold-mining!” he broke in; “ah! yes, I once went gold-mining at +Pilgrims’ Rest in the Transvaal, and it was after that that we had the +business about Jim-Jim and the lions. Do you know Pilgrim’s Rest? Well, +it is, or was, one of the queerest little places you ever saw. The town +itself was pitched in a stony valley, with mountains all about it, and +in the middle of such scenery as one does not often get the chance of +seeing. Many and many is the time that I have thrown down my pick and +shovel in disgust, clambered out of my claim, and walked a couple of +miles or so to the top of some hill. Then I would lie down in the grass +and look out over the glorious stretch of country--the smiling valleys, +the great mountains touched with gold--real gold of the sunset, and +clothed in sweeping robes of bush, and stare into the depths of the +perfect sky above; yes, and thank Heaven I had got away from the cursing +and the coarse jokes of the miners, and the voices of those Basutu +Kaffirs as they toiled in the sun, the memory of which is with me yet. + +“Well, for some months I dug away patiently at my claim, till the very +sight of a pick or of a washing-trough became hateful to me. A hundred +times a day I lamented my own folly in having invested eight hundred +pounds, which was about all that I was worth at the time, in this +gold-mining. But like other better people before me, I had been bitten +by the gold bug, and now was forced to take the consequences. I bought a +claim out of which a man had made a fortune--five or six thousand pounds +at least--as I thought, very cheap; that is, I gave him five hundred +pounds down for it. It was all that I had made by a very rough +year’s elephant-hunting beyond the Zambesi, and I sighed deeply and +prophetically when I saw my successful friend, who was a Yankee, sweep +up the roll of Standard Bank notes with the lordly air of the man who +has made his fortune, and cram them into his breeches pockets. ‘Well,’ I +said to him--the happy vendor--‘it is a magnificent property, and I only +hope that my luck will be as good as yours has been.’ + +“He smiled; to my excited nerves it seemed that he smiled ominously, +as he answered me in a peculiar Yankee drawl: ‘I guess, stranger, as I +ain’t the one to make a man quarrel with his food, more especial when +there ain’t no more going of the rounds; and as for that there claim, +well, she’s been a good nigger to me; but between you and me, stranger, +speaking man to man, now that there ain’t any filthy lucre between us to +obscure the features of the truth, I guess she’s about worked out!’ + +“I gasped; the fellow’s effrontery took the breath out of me. Only five +minutes before he had been swearing by all his gods--and they appeared +to be numerous and mixed--that there were half a dozen fortunes left in +the claim, and that he was only giving it up because he was downright +weary of shovelling the gold out. + +“‘Don’t look so vexed, stranger,’ went on my tormentor, ‘perhaps there +is some shine in the old girl yet; anyway you are a downright good +fellow, you are, therefore you will, I guess, have a real A1 opportunity +of working on the feelings of Fortune. Anyway it will bring the muscle +up upon your arm, for the stuff is uncommon stiff, and, what is more, +you will in the course of a year earn a sight more than two thousand +dollars in value of experience.’ + +“Then he went just in time, for in another moment I should have gone for +him, and I saw his face no more. + +“Well, I set to work on the old claim with my boy Harry and half a dozen +Kaffirs to help me, which, seeing that I had put nearly all my worldly +wealth into it, was the least that I could do. And we worked, my word, +we did work--early and late we went at it--but never a bit of gold did +we see; no, not even a nugget large enough to make a scarf-pin out of. +The American gentleman had secured it all and left us the sweepings. + +“For three months this went on, till at last I had paid away all, or +very near all, that was left of her little capital in wages and food for +the Kaffirs and ourselves. When I tell you that Boer meal was sometimes +as high as four pounds a bag, you will understand that it did not take +long to run through our banking account. + +“At last the crisis came. One Saturday night I had paid the men as +usual, and bought a muid of mealie meal at sixty shillings for them to +fill themselves with, and then I went with my boy Harry and sat on the +edge of the great hole that we had dug in the hill-side, and which we +had in bitter mockery named Eldorado. There we sat in the moonlight +with our feet over the edge of the claim, and were melancholy enough for +anything. Presently I pulled out my purse and emptied its contents into +my hand. There was a half-sovereign, two florins, ninepence in silver, +no coppers--for copper practically does not circulate in South Africa, +which is one of the things that make living so dear there--in all +exactly fourteen and ninepence. + +“‘There, Harry, my boy!’ I said, ‘that is the sum total of our worldly +wealth; that hole has swallowed all the rest.’ + +“‘By George!’ said Master Harry; ‘I say, father, you and I shall have to +let ourselves out to work with the Kaffirs and live on mealie pap,’ and +he sniggered at his unpleasant little joke. + +“But I was in no mood for joking, for it is not a merry thing to dig +like anything for months and be completely ruined in the process, +especially if you happen to dislike digging, and consequently I resented +Harry’s light-heartedness. + +“‘Be quiet, boy!’ I said, raising my hand as though to give him a cuff, +with the result that the half-sovereign slipped out of it and fell into +the gulf below. + +“‘Oh, bother,’ said I, ‘it’s gone.’ + +“‘There, Dad,’ said Harry, ‘that’s what comes of letting your angry +passions rise; now we are down to four and nine.’ + +“I made no answer to these words of wisdom, but scrambled down the steep +sides of the claim, followed by Harry, to hunt for my little all. Well, +we hunted and we hunted, but the moonlight is an uncertain thing to look +for half-sovereigns by, and there was some loose soil about, for the +Kaffirs had knocked off working at this very spot a couple of hours +before. I took a pick and raked away the clods of earth with it, in the +hope of finding the coin; but all in vain. At last in sheer annoyance I +struck the sharp end of the pickaxe down into the soil, which was of a +very hard nature. To my astonishment it sunk in right up to the haft. + +“‘Why, Harry,’ I said, ‘this ground must have been disturbed!’ + +“‘I don’t think so, father,’ he answered; ‘but we will soon see,’ and +he began to shovel out the soil with his hands. ‘Oh,’ he said presently, +‘it’s only some old stones; the pick has gone down between them, look!’ +and he began to pull at one of the stones. + +“‘I say, Dad,’ he said presently, almost in a whisper, ‘it’s precious +heavy, feel it;’ and he rose and gave me a round, brownish lump about +the size of a very large apple, which he was holding in both his hands. +I took it curiously and held it up to the light. It _was_ very heavy. +The moonlight fell upon its rough and filth-encrusted surface, and as I +looked, curious little thrills of excitement began to pass through me. +But I could not be sure. + +“‘Give me your knife, Harry,’ I said. + +“He did so, and resting the brown stone on my knee I scratched at its +surface. Great heavens, it was soft! + +“Another second and the secret was out, we had found a great nugget of +pure gold, four pounds of it or more. ‘It’s gold, lad,’ I said, ‘it’s +gold, or I’m a Dutchman!’ + +“Harry, with his eyes starting out of his head, glared down at the +gleaming yellow scratch that I had made upon the virgin metal, and then +burst out into yell upon yell of exultation, which went ringing away +across the silent claims like shrieks of somebody being murdered. + +“‘Be quiet!’ I said; ‘do you want every thief on the fields after you?’ + +“Scarcely were the words out of my mouth when I heard a stealthy +footstep approaching. I promptly put the big nugget down and sat on it, +and uncommonly hard it was. As I did so I saw a lean dark face poked +over the edge of the claim and a pair of beady eyes searching us out. +I knew the face, it belonged to a man of very bad character known as +Handspike Tom, who had, I understood, been so named at the Diamond +Fields because he had murdered his mate with a handspike. He was now no +doubt prowling about like a human hyæna to see what he could steal. + +“‘Is that you, ‘unter Quatermain?’ he said. + +“‘Yes, it’s I, Mr. Tom,’ I answered, politely. + +“‘And what might all that there yelling be?’ he asked. ‘I was walking +along, a-taking of the evening air and a-thinking on the stars, when I +‘ears ‘owl after ‘owl.’ + +“‘Well, Mr. Tom,’ I answered, ‘that is not to be wondered at, seeing +that like yourself they are nocturnal birds.’ + +“‘’Owl after ‘owl!’ he repeated sternly, taking no notice of my +interpretation, ‘and I stops and says, “That’s murder,” and I listens +again and thinks, “No, it ain’t; that ‘owl is the ‘owl of hexultation; +some one’s been and got his fingers into a gummy yeller pot, I’ll swear, +and gone off ‘is ‘ead in the sucking of them.” Now, ‘unter Quatermain, +is I right? is it nuggets? Oh, lor!’ and he smacked his lips +audibly--‘great big yellow boys--is it them that you have just been and +tumbled across?’ + +“‘No,’ I said boldly, ‘it isn’t’--the cruel gleam in his black eyes +altogether overcoming my aversion to untruth, for I knew that if once he +found out what it was that I was sitting on--and by the way I have +heard of rolling in gold being spoken of as a pleasant process, but I +certainly do not recommend anybody who values comfort to try sitting +on it--I should run a very good chance of being ‘handspiked’ before the +night was over. + +“‘If you want to know what it was, Mr. Tom,’ I went on, with my politest +air, although in agony from the nugget underneath--for I hold it is +always best to be polite to a man who is so ready with a handspike--‘my +boy and I have had a slight difference of opinion, and I was enforcing +my view of the matter upon him; that’s all.’ + +“‘Yes, Mr. Tom,’ put in Harry, beginning to weep, for Harry was a smart +boy, and saw the difficulty we were in, ‘that was it--I halloed because +father beat me.’ + +“‘Well, now, did yer, my dear boy--did yer? Well, all I can say is that +a played-out old claim is a wonderful queer sort of place to come to for +to argify at ten o’clock of night, and what’s more, my sweet youth, if +ever I should ‘ave the argifying of yer’--and he leered unpleasantly at +Harry--‘yer won’t ‘oller in quite such a jolly sort ‘o way. And now I’ll +be saying good-night, for I don’t like disturbing of a family party. +No, I ain’t that sort of man, I ain’t. Good-night to yer, ‘unter +Quatermain--good-night to yer, my argified young one;’ and Mr. Tom +turned away disappointed, and prowled off elsewhere, like a human +jackal, to see what he could thieve or kill. + +“‘Thank goodness!’ I said, as I slipped off the lump of gold. ‘Now, +then, do you get up, Harry, and see if that consummate villain has +gone.’ Harry did so, and reported that he had vanished towards Pilgrim’s +Rest, and then we set to work, and very carefully, but trembling with +excitement, with our hands hollowed out all the space of ground into +which I had struck the pick. Yes, as I hoped, there was a regular nest +of nuggets, twelve in all, running from the size of a hazel-nut to that +of a hen’s egg, though of course the first one was much larger than +that. How they all came there nobody can say; it was one of those +extraordinary freaks, with stories of which, at any rate, all people +acquainted with alluvial gold-mining will be familiar. It turned out +afterwards that the American who sold me the claim had in the same way +made his pile--a much larger one than ours, by the way--out of a single +pocket, and then worked for six months without seeing colour, after +which he gave it up. + +“At any rate, there the nuggets were, to the value, as it turned out +afterwards, of about twelve hundred and fifty pounds, so that after all +I took out of that hole four hundred and fifty pounds more than I put +into it. We got them all out and wrapped them up in a handkerchief, and +then, fearing to carry home so much treasure, especially as we knew that +Mr. Handspike Tom was on the prowl, made up our minds to pass the +night where we were--a necessity which, disagreeable as it was, was +wonderfully sweetened by the presence of that handkerchief full of +virgin gold--the interest of my lost half-sovereign. + +“Slowly the night wore away, for with the fear of Handspike Tom before +my eyes I did not dare to go to sleep, and at last the dawn came. I got +up and watched its growth, till it opened like a flower upon the eastern +sky, and the sunbeams began to spring up in splendour from mountain-top +to mountain-top. I watched it, and as I did so it flashed upon me, with +a complete conviction which I had not felt before, that I had had enough +of gold-mining to last me the rest of my natural life, and I then and +there made up my mind to clear out of Pilgrims’ Rest and go and shoot +buffalo towards Delagoa Bay. Then I turned, took the pick and shovel, +and although it was a Sunday morning, woke up Harry and set to work +to see if there were any more nuggets about. As I expected, there were +none. What we had got had lain together in a little pocket filled with +soil that felt quite different from the stiff stuff round and outside +the pocket. There was not another trace of gold. Of course it is +possible that there were more pocketfuls somewhere about, but all I have +to say is I made up my mind that, whoever found them, I should not; and, +as a matter of fact, I have since heard that this claim has been the +ruin of two or three people, as it very nearly was the ruin of me. + +“‘Harry,’ I said presently, ‘I am going away this week towards Delagoa +to shoot buffalo. Shall I take you with me, or send you down to Durban?’ + +“‘Oh, take me with you, father!’ begged Harry, ‘I want to kill a +buffalo!’ + +“‘And supposing that the buffalo kills you instead?’ I asked. + +“‘Oh, never mind,’ he said, gaily, ‘there are lots more where I came +from.’ + +“I rebuked him for his flippancy, but in the end I consented to take +him.” + + + +CHAPTER II. WHAT WAS FOUND IN THE POOL + +“Something over a fortnight had passed since the night when I lost +half-a-sovereign and found twelve hundred and fifty pounds in looking +for it, and instead of that horrid hole, for which, after all, Eldorado +was hardly a misnomer, a very different scene stretched away before us +clad in the silver robe of the moonlight. We were camped--Harry and +I, two Kaffirs, a Scotch cart, and six oxen--on the swelling side of a +great wave of bushclad land. Just where we had made our camp, however, +the bush was very sparse, and only grew about in clumps, while here +and there were single flat-topped mimosa-trees. To our right a little +stream, which had cut a deep channel for itself in the bosom of the +slope, flowed musically on between banks green with maidenhair, wild +asparagus, and many beautiful grasses. The bed-rock here was red +granite, and in the course of centuries of patient washing the water had +hollowed out some of the huge slabs in its path into great troughs and +cups, and these we used for bathing-places. No Roman lady, with her +baths of porphyry or alabaster, could have had a more delicious spot to +bathe herself than we found within fifty yards of our skerm, or rough +inclosure of mimosa thorn, that we had dragged together round the cart +to protect us from the attacks of lions. That there were several of +these brutes about, I knew from their spoor, though we had neither heard +nor seen them. + +“Our bath was a little nook where the eddy of the stream had washed away +a mass of soil, and on the edge of it there grew a most beautiful old +mimosa thorn. Beneath the thorn was a large smooth slab of granite +fringed all round with maidenhair and other ferns, that sloped gently +down to a pool of the clearest sparkling water, which lay in a bowl of +granite about ten feet wide by five feet deep in the centre. Here to +this slab we went every morning to bathe, and that delightful bath is +among the most pleasant of my hunting reminiscences, as it is also, for +reasons which will presently appear, among the most painful. + +“It was a lovely night. Harry and I sat to the windward of the fire, +where the two Kaffirs were busily employed in cooking some impala steaks +off a buck which Harry, to his great joy, had shot that morning, and +were as perfectly contented with ourselves and the world at large as two +people could possibly be. The night was beautiful, and it would require +somebody with more words on the tip of his tongue than I have to +describe properly the chastened majesty of those moonlit wilds. Away for +ever and for ever, away to the mysterious north, rolled the great bush +ocean over which the silence brooded. There beneath us a mile or more to +the right ran the wide Oliphant, and mirror-like flashed back the moon, +whose silver spears were shivered on its breast, and then tossed in +twisted lines of light far and wide about the mountains and the plain. +Down upon the river-banks grew great timber-trees that through the +stillness pointed solemnly to Heaven, and the beauty of the night lay +upon them like a cloud. Everywhere was silence--silence in the starred +depths, silence on the bosom of the sleeping earth. Now, if ever, great +thoughts might rise in a man’s mind, and for a space he might forget his +littleness in the sense that he partook of the pure immensity about him. + +“‘Hark! what was that?’ + +“From far away down by the river there comes a mighty rolling sound, +then another, and another. It is the lion seeking his meat. + +“I saw Harry shiver and turn a little pale. He was a plucky boy enough, +but the roar of a lion heard for the first time in the solemn bush veldt +at night is apt to shake the nerves of any lad. + +“‘Lions, my boy,’ I said; ‘they are hunting down by the river there; +but I don’t think that you need make yourself uneasy. We have been here +three nights now, and if they were going to pay us a visit I think that +they would have done so before this. However, we will make up the fire.’ + +“‘Here, Pharaoh, do you and Jim-Jim get some more wood before we go to +sleep, else the cats will be purring round you before morning.’ + +“Pharaoh, a great brawny Swazi, who had been working for me at Pilgrims’ +Rest, laughed, rose, and stretched himself, then calling to Jim-Jim to +bring the axe and a reim, started off in the moonlight towards a clump +of sugar-bush where we cut our fuel from some dead trees. He was a +fine fellow in his way, was Pharaoh, and I think that he had been named +Pharaoh because he had an Egyptian cast of countenance and a royal +sort of swagger about him. But his way was a somewhat peculiar way, on +account of the uncertainty of his temper, and very few people could get +on with him; also if he could find liquor he would drink like a fish, +and when he drank he became shockingly bloodthirsty. These were his bad +points; his good ones were that, like most people of the Zulu blood, +he became exceedingly attached if he took to you at all; he was a +hard-working and intelligent man, and about as dare-devil and plucky +a fellow at a pinch as I have ever had to do with. He was about +five-and-thirty years of age or so, but not a ‘keshla’ or ringed man. I +believe that he had got into trouble in some way in Swaziland, and the +authorities of his tribe would not allow him to assume the ring, and +that is why he came to work at the gold-fields. The other man, or rather +lad, Jim-Jim, was a Mapoch Kaffir, or Knobnose, and even in the light of +subsequent events I fear I cannot speak very well of him. He was an +idle and careless young rascal, and only that very morning I had to tell +Pharaoh to give him a beating for letting the oxen stray, which Pharaoh +did with the greatest gusto, although he was by way of being very fond +of Jim-Jim. Indeed, I saw him consoling Jim-Jim afterwards with a pinch +of snuff from his own ear-box, whilst he explained to him that the next +time it came in the way of duty to flog him, he meant to thrash him with +the other hand, so as to cross the old cuts and make a “pretty pattern” + on his back. + +“Well, off they went, though Jim-Jim did not at all like leaving the +camp at that hour, even when the moonlight was so bright, and in due +course returned safely enough with a great bundle of wood. I laughed at +Jim-Jim, and asked him if he had seen anything, and he said yes, he had; +he had seen two large yellow eyes staring at him from behind a bush, and +heard something snore. + +“As, however, on further investigation the yellow eyes and the snore +appeared to have existed only in Jim-Jim’s lively imagination, I was +not greatly disturbed by this alarming report; but having seen to the +making-up of the fire, got into the skerm and went quietly to sleep with +Harry by my side. + +“Some hours afterwards I woke up with a start. I don’t know what woke +me. The moon had gone down, or at least was almost hidden behind the +soft horizon of bush, only her red rim being visible. Also a wind had +sprung up and was driving long hurrying lines of cloud across the starry +sky, and altogether a great change had come over the mood of the night. +By the look of the sky I judged that we must be about two hours from +day-break. + +“The oxen, which were as usual tied to the disselboom of the Scotch +cart, were very restless--they kept snuffling and blowing, and rising +up and lying down again, so I at once suspected that they must wind +something. Presently I knew what it was that they winded, for within +fifty yards of us a lion roared, not very loud, but quite loud enough to +make my heart come into my mouth. + +“Pharaoh was sleeping on the other side of the cart, and, looking +beneath it, I saw him raise his head and listen. + +“‘Lion, Inkoos,’ he whispered, ‘lion!’ + +“Jim-Jim also jumped up, and by the faint light I could see that he was +in a very great fright indeed. + +“Thinking that it was as well to be prepared for emergencies, I told +Pharaoh to throw wood upon the fire, and woke up Harry, who I verily +believe was capable of sleeping happily through the crack of doom. +He was a little scared at first, but presently the excitement of the +position came home to him, and he grew quite anxious to see his majesty +face to face. I got my rifle handy and gave Harry his--a Westley +Richards falling block, which is a very useful gun for a youth, being +light and yet a good killing rifle, and then we waited. + +“For a long time nothing happened, and I began to think that the best +thing we could do would be to go to sleep again, when suddenly I heard +a sound more like a cough than a roar within about twenty yards of +the skerm. We all looked out, but could see nothing; and then followed +another period of suspense. It was very trying to the nerves, this +waiting for an attack that might be developed from any quarter or might +not be developed at all; and though I was an old hand at this sort of +business I was anxious about Harry, for it is wonderful how the presence +of anybody to whom one is attached unnerves a man in moments of danger. +I know, although it was now chilly enough, I could feel the perspiration +running down my nose, and in order to relieve the strain on my attention +employed myself in watching a beetle which appeared to be attracted +by the firelight, and was sitting before it thoughtfully rubbing his +antennæ against each other. + +“Suddenly, the beetle gave such a jump that he nearly pitched headlong +into the fire, and so did we all--gave jumps, I mean, and no wonder, +for from right under the skerm fence there came a most frightful roar--a +roar that literally made the Scotch cart shake and took the breath out +of me. + +“Harry made an exclamation, Jim-Jim howled outright, while the poor +oxen, who were terrified almost out of their hides, shivered and lowed +piteously. + +“The night was almost entirely dark now, for the moon had quite set, and +the clouds had covered up the stars, so that the only light we had came +from the fire, which by this time was burning up brightly again. But, +as you know, firelight is absolutely useless to shoot by, it is so +uncertain, and besides, it penetrates but a very little way into the +darkness, although if one is in the dark outside, one can see it from +far away. + +“Presently the oxen, after standing still for a moment, suddenly winded +the lion and did what I feared they would do--began to ‘skrek,’ that is, +to try and break loose from the trektow to which they were tied, to rush +off madly into the wilderness. Lions know of this habit on the part of +oxen, which are, I do believe, the most foolish animals under the sun, +a sheep being a very Solomon compared to them; and it is by no means +uncommon for a lion to get in such a position that a herd or span of +oxen may wind him, skrek, break their reims, and rush off into the bush. +Of course, once there, they are helpless in the dark; and then the lion +chooses the one that he loves best and eats him at his leisure. + +“Well, round and round went our six poor oxen, nearly trampling us to +death in their mad rush; indeed, had we not hastily tumbled out of the +way, we should have been trodden to death, or at the least seriously +injured. As it was, Harry was run over, and poor Jim-Jim being caught +by the trektow somewhere beneath the arm, was hurled right across the +skerm, landing by my side only some paces off. + +“Snap went the disselboom of the cart beneath the transverse strain put +upon it. Had it not broken the cart would have overset; as it was, +in another minute, oxen, cart, trektow, reims, broken disselboom, and +everything were soon tied in one vast heaving, plunging, bellowing, and +seemingly inextricable knot. + +“For a moment or two this state of affairs took my attention off from +the lion that had caused it, but whilst I was wondering what on earth +was to be done next, and how we should manage if the cattle broke loose +into the bush and were lost--for cattle frightened in this manner will +so straight away like mad things--my thoughts were suddenly recalled to +the lion in a very painful fashion. + +“For at that moment I perceived by the light of the fire a kind of gleam +of yellow travelling through the air towards us. + +“‘The lion! the lion!’ holloaed Pharaoh, and as he did so, he, or rather +she, for it was a great gaunt lioness, half wild no doubt with hunger, +lit right in the middle of the skerm, and stood there in the smoky gloom +lashing her tail and roaring. I seized my rifle and fired it at her, +but what between the confusion, my agitation, and the uncertain light, +I missed her, and nearly shot Pharaoh. The flash of the rifle, however, +threw the whole scene into strong relief, and a wild sight it was I can +tell you--with the seething mass of oxen twisted all round the cart, in +such a fashion that their heads looked as though they were growing out +of their rumps; and their horns seemed to protrude from their backs; the +smoking fire with just a blaze in the heart of the smoke; Jim-Jim in the +foreground, where the oxen had thrown him in their wild rush, stretched +out there in terror, and then as a centre to the picture the great gaunt +lioness glaring round with hungry yellow eyes, roaring and whining as +she made up her mind what to do. + +“It did not take her long, however, just the time that it takes a flash +to die into darkness, for, before I could fire again or do anything, +with a most fiendish snort she sprang upon poor Jim-Jim. + +“I heard the unfortunate lad shriek, and then almost instantly I saw his +legs thrown into the air. The lioness had seized him by the neck, and +with a sudden jerk thrown his body over her back so that his legs hung +down upon the further side.[*] Then, without the slightest hesitation, +and apparently without any difficulty, she cleared the skerm face at +a single bound, and bearing poor Jim-Jim with her vanished into the +darkness beyond, in the direction of the bathing-place that I have +already described. We jumped up perfectly mad with horror and fear, and +rushed wildly after her, firing shots at haphazard on the chance that +she would be frightened by them into dropping her prey, but nothing +could we see, and nothing could we hear. The lioness had vanished into +the darkness, taking Jim-Jim with her, and to attempt to follow her till +daylight was madness. We should only expose ourselves to the risk of a +like fate. + + [*] I have known a lion carry a two-year-old ox over a stone + wall four feet high in this fashion, and a mile away into + the bush beyond. He was subsequently poisoned by strychnine + put into the carcass of the ox, and I still have his claws. + --Editor. + +“So with scared and heavy hearts we crept back to the skerm, and sat +down to wait for the dawn, which now could not be much more than an hour +off. It was absolutely useless to try even to disentangle the oxen till +then, so all that was left for us to do was to sit and wonder how it +came to pass that the one should be taken and the other left, and to +hope against hope that our poor servant might have been mercifully +delivered from the lion’s jaws. + +“At length the faint dawn came stealing like a ghost up the long slope +of bush, and glinted on the tangled oxen’s horns, and with white and +frightened faces we got up and set to the task of disentangling the +oxen, till such time as there should be light enough to enable us to +follow the trail of the lioness which had gone off with Jim-Jim. +And here a fresh trouble awaited us, for when at last with infinite +difficulty we had disentangled the great helpless brutes, it was only +to find that one of the best of them was very sick. There was no mistake +about the way he stood with his legs slightly apart and his head hanging +down. He had got the redwater, I was sure of it. Of all the difficulties +connected with life and travelling in South Africa those connected with +oxen are perhaps the worst. The ox is the most exasperating animal in +the world, a negro excepted. He has absolutely no constitution, and +never neglects an opportunity of falling sick of some mysterious +disease. He will get thin upon the slightest provocation, and from mere +maliciousness die of ‘poverty’; whereas it is his chief delight to turn +round and refuse to pull whenever he finds himself well in the centre of +a river, or the waggon-wheel nicely fast in a mud hole. Drive him a few +miles over rough roads and you will find that he is footsore; turn him +loose to feed and you will discover that he has run away, or if he has +not run away he has of malice aforethought eaten ‘tulip’ and poisoned +himself. There is always something with him. The ox is a brute. It was +of a piece with his accustomed behaviour for the one in question to +break out--on purpose probably--with redwater just when a lion had +walked off with his herd. It was exactly what I should have expected, +and I was therefore neither disappointed nor surprised. + +“Well, it was no use crying as I should almost have liked to do, because +if this ox had redwater it was probable that the rest of them had it +too, although they had been sold to me as ‘salted,’ that is, proof +against such diseases as redwater and lungsick. One gets hardened to +this sort of thing in South Africa in course of time, for I suppose in +no other country in the world is the waste of animal life so great. + +“So taking my rifle and telling Harry to follow me (for we had to leave +Pharaoh to look after the oxen--Pharaoh’s lean kine, I called them), +I started to see if anything could be found of or appertaining to the +unfortunate Jim-Jim. The ground round our little camp was hard and +rocky, and we could not hit off any spoor of the lioness, though just +outside the skerm was a drop or two of blood. About three hundred yards +from the camp, and a little to the right, was a patch of sugar bush +mixed up with the usual mimosa, and for this I made, thinking that the +lioness would have been sure to take her prey there to devour it. On we +pushed through the long grass that was bent down beneath the weight of +the soaking dew. In two minutes we were wet through up to the thighs, +as wet as though we had waded through water. In due course, however, +we reached the patch of bush, and by the grey light of the morning +cautiously and slowly pushed our way into it. It was very dark under the +trees, for the sun was not yet up, so we walked with the most extreme +care, half expecting every minute to come across the lioness licking the +bones of poor Jim-Jim. But no lioness could we see, and as for Jim-Jim +there was not even a finger-joint of him to be found. Evidently they had +not come here. + +“So pushing through the bush we proceeded to hunt every other likely +spot, but with the same result. + +“‘I suppose she must have taken him right away,’ I said at last, sadly +enough. ‘At any rate he will be dead by now, so God have mercy on him, +we can’t help him. What’s to be done now?’ + +“‘I suppose that we had better wash ourselves in the pool, and then go +back and get something to eat. I am filthy,’ said Harry. + +“This was a practical if a somewhat unfeeling suggestion. At least it +struck me as unfeeling to talk of washing when poor Jim-Jim had been so +recently eaten. However, I did not let my sentiment carry me away, so +we went down to the beautiful spot that I have described, to wash. I was +the first to reach it, which I did by scrambling down the ferny bank. +Then I turned round, and started back with a yell--as well I might, for +almost from beneath my feet there came a most awful snarl. + +“I had lit nearly upon the back of the lioness, that had been sleeping +on the slab where we always stood to dry ourselves after bathing. With a +snarl and a growl, before I could do anything, before I could even cock +my rifle, she had bounded right across the crystal pool, and vanished +over the opposite bank. It was all done in an instant, as quick as +thought. + +“She had been sleeping on the slab, and oh, horror! what was that +sleeping beside her? It was the red remains of poor Jim-Jim, lying on a +patch of blood-stained rock. + +“‘Oh! father, father!’ shrieked Harry, ‘look in the water!’ + +“I looked. There, floating in the centre of the lovely tranquil pool, +was Jim-Jim’s head. The lioness had bitten it right off, and it had +rolled down the sloping rock into the water.” + + + +CHAPTER III. JIM-JIM IS AVENGED + +“We never bathed in that pool again; indeed for my part I could never +look at its peaceful purity fringed round with waving ferns without +thinking of that ghastly head which rolled itself off through the water +when we tried to catch it. + +“Poor Jim-Jim! We buried what was left of him, which was not very much, +in an old bread-bag, and though whilst he lived his virtues were not +great, now that he was gone we could have wept over him. Indeed, Harry +did weep outright; while Pharaoh used very bad language in Zulu, and I +registered a quiet little vow on my account that I would let daylight +into that lioness before I was forty-eight hours older, if by any means +it could be done. + +“Well, we buried him, and there he lies in the bread-bag (which I +rather grudged him, as it was the only one we had), where lions will not +trouble him any more--though perhaps the hyænas will, if they consider +that there is enough on him left to make it worth their while to dig +him up. However, he won’t mind that; so there is an end of the book of +Jim-Jim. + +“The question that now remained was, how to circumvent his murderess. I +knew that she would be sure to return as soon as she was hungry again, +but I did not know when she would be hungry. She had left so little of +Jim-Jim behind her that I should scarcely expect to see her the next +night, unless indeed she had cubs. Still, I felt that it would not +be wise to miss the chance of her coming, so we set about making +preparations for her reception. The first thing that we did was to +strengthen the bush wall of the skerm by dragging a large quantity of +the tops of thorn-trees together, and laying them one on the other +in such a fashion that the thorns pointed outwards. This, after our +experience of the fate of Jim-Jim, seemed a very necessary precaution, +since if where one goat can jump another can follow, as the Kaffirs say, +how much more is this the case when an animal so active and so vigorous +as the lion is concerned! And now came the further question, how were we +to beguile the lioness to return? Lions are animals that have a strange +knack of appearing when they are not wanted, and keeping studiously out +of the way when their presence is required. Of course it was possible +that if she had found Jim-Jim to her liking she would come back to see +if there were any more of his kind about, but still it was not to be +relied on. + +“Harry, who as I have said was an eminently practical boy, suggested to +Pharaoh that he should go and sit outside the skerm in the moonlight as +a sort of bait, assuring him that he would have nothing to fear, as +we should certainly kill the lioness before she killed him. Pharaoh +however, strangely enough, did not seem to take to this suggestion. +Indeed, he walked away, much put out with Harry for having made it. + +“It gave me an idea, however. + +“‘By Jove!’ I said, ‘there is the sick ox. He must die sooner or later, +so we may as well utilize him.’ + +“Now, about thirty yards to the left of our skerm, as one stood facing +down the hill towards the river, was the stump of a tree that had been +destroyed by lightning many years before, standing equidistant between, +but a little in front of, two clumps of bush, which were severally some +fifteen paces from it. + +“Here was the very place to tie the ox; and accordingly a little before +sunset the sick animal was led forth by Pharaoh and made fast there, +little knowing, poor brute, for what purpose; and we began our long +vigil, this time without a fire, for our object was to attract the +lioness and not to scare her. + +“For hour after hour we waited, keeping ourselves awake by pinching each +other--it is, by the way, remarkable what a difference of opinion as +to the force of pinches requisite to the occasion exists in the mind of +pincher and pinched--but no lioness came. At last the moon went down, +and darkness swallowed up the world, as the Kaffirs say, but no lions +came to swallow us up. We waited till dawn, because we did not dare to +go to sleep, and then at last with many bad thoughts in our hearts we +took such rest as we could get, and that was not much. + +“That morning we went out shooting, not because we wanted to, for we +were too depressed and tired, but because we had no more meat. For three +hours or more we wandered about in a broiling sun looking for something +to kill, but with absolutely no results. For some unknown reason the +game had grown very scarce about the spot, though when I was there two +years before every sort of large game except rhinoceros and elephant +was particularly abundant. The lions, of whom there were many, alone +remained, and I fancy that it was the fact of the game they live on +having temporarily migrated which made them so daring and ferocious. As +a general rule a lion is an amiable animal enough if he is left alone, +but a hungry lion is almost as dangerous as a hungry man. One hears a +great many different opinions expressed as to whether or no the lion is +remarkable for his courage, but the result of my experience is that very +much depends upon the state of his stomach. A hungry lion will not stick +at a trifle, whereas a full one will flee at a very small rebuke. + +“Well, we hunted all about, and nothing could we see, not even a duiker +or a bush buck; and at last, thoroughly tired and out of temper, we +started on our way back to camp, passing over the brow of a steepish +hill to do so. Just as we climbed the crest of the ridge I came to a +stand, for there, about six hundred yards to my left, his beautiful +curved horns outlined against the soft blue of the sky, I saw a noble +koodoo bull (_Strepsiceros kudu_). Even at that distance, for as you +know my eyes are very keen, I could distinctly see the white stripes +on its side when the light fell upon it, and its large and pointed ears +twitch as the flies worried it. + +“So far so good; but how were we to get at it? It was ridiculous to risk +a shot at that great distance, and yet both the ground and the wind lay +very ill for stalking. It seemed to me that the only chance would be to +make a detour of at least a mile or more, and come up on the other side +of the koodoo. I called Harry to my side, and explained to him what I +thought would be our best course, when suddenly, without any delay, the +koodoo saved us further trouble by suddenly starting off down the hill +like a leaping rocket. I do not know what had frightened it, certainly +we had not. Perhaps a hyæna or a leopard--a tiger as we call it +there--had suddenly appeared; at any rate, off it went, running +slightly towards us, and I never saw a buck go faster. I am afraid that +forgetting Harry’s presence I used strong language, and really there +was some excuse. As for Harry, he stood watching the beautiful animal’s +course. Presently it vanished behind a patch of bush, to emerge a +few seconds later about five hundred paces from us, on a stretch of +comparatively level ground that was strewn with boulders. On it went, +clearing the boulders in its path with a succession of great bounds +that were beautiful to behold. As it did so, I happened to look round at +Harry, and perceived to my astonishment that he had got his rifle to his +shoulder. + +“‘You young donkey!’ I exclaimed, ‘surely you are not going to’--and +just at that moment the rifle went off. + +“And then I think I saw what was in its way one of the most wonderful +things I ever remember in my hunting experience. The koodoo was at the +moment in the air, clearing a pile of stones with its fore-legs tucked +up underneath it. All of an instant the legs stretched themselves out +in a spasmodic fashion, it lit on them, and they doubled up beneath it. +Down went the noble buck, down upon his head. For a moment he seemed to +be standing on his horns, his hind-legs high in the air, and then over +he rolled and lay still. + +“‘Great Heavens!’ I said, ‘why, you’ve hit him! He’s dead.’ + +“As for Harry, he said nothing, but merely looked scared, as well he +might, for such a marvellous, I may say such an appalling and ghastly +fluke it has never been my lot to witness. A man, let alone a boy, +might have fired a thousand such shots without ever touching the object; +which, mind you, was springing and bounding over rocks quite five +hundred yards away; and here this lad--taking a snap shot, and merely +allowing for speed and elevation by instinct, for he did not put up his +sights--had knocked the bull over as dead as a door-nail. Well, I made +no further remark, as the occasion was too solemn for talking, but +merely led the way to where the koodoo had fallen. There he lay, +beautiful and quite still; and there, high up, about half-way down his +neck, was a neat round hole. The bullet had severed the spinal marrow, +passing through the vertebræ and away on the other side. + +“It was already evening when, having cut as much of the best meat as we +could carry from the bull, and tied a red handkerchief and some tufts of +grass to his spiral horns, which, by the way, must have been nearly +five feet in length, in the hope of keeping the jackals and aasvögels +(vultures) from him, we finally got back to camp, to find Pharaoh, who +was getting rather anxious at our absence, ready to greet us with the +pleasing intelligence that another ox was sick. But even this dreadful +bit of intelligence could not dash Harry’s spirits; the fact of the +matter being, incredible as it may appear, I do verily believe that in +his heart of hearts he set down the death of the koodoo to the credit +of his own skill. Now, though the lad was a pretty shot enough, this of +course was ridiculous, and I told him so plainly. + +“By the time that we had finished our supper of koodoo steaks (which +would have been better if the koodoo had been a little younger), it was +time to get ready for Jim-Jim’s murderess. Accordingly we determined +again to expose the unfortunate sick ox, that was now absolutely on +its last legs, being indeed scarcely able to stand. All the afternoon +Pharaoh told us it had been walking round and round in a circle as +cattle in the last stage of redwater generally do. Now it had come to a +standstill, and was swaying to and fro with its head hanging down. So we +tied him up to the stump of the tree as on the previous night, knowing +that if the lioness did not kill him he would be dead by morning. Indeed +I was afraid that he would die at once, in which case he would be of but +little use as a bait, for the lion is a sportsmanlike animal, and unless +he is very hungry generally prefers to kill his own dinner, though when +that is once killed he will come back to it again and again. + +“Then we again went through our experience of the previous night, +sitting there hour after hour, till at last Harry fell fast asleep, and, +though I am accustomed to this sort of thing, even I could scarcely keep +my eyes open. Indeed I was just dropping off, when suddenly Pharaoh gave +me a push. + +“‘_Listen!_’ he whispered. + +“I was awake in a second, and listening with all my ears. From the clump +of bush to the right of the lightning-shattered stump to which the sick +ox was tied came a faint crackling noise. Presently it was repeated. +Something was moving there, faintly and quietly enough, but still moving +perceptibly, for in the intense stillness of the night any sound seemed +loud. + +“I woke up Harry, who instantly said, ‘Where is she? where is she?’ and +began to point his rifle about in a fashion that was more dangerous to +us and the oxen than to any possible lioness. + +“‘Be quiet!’ I whispered, savagely; and as I did so, with a low and +hideous growl a flash of yellow light sped out of the clump of bush, +past the ox, and into the corresponding clump upon the other side. The +poor sick creature gave a sort of groan, staggered round and then began +to tremble. I could see it do so clearly in the moonlight, which was +now very bright, and I felt a brute for having exposed the unfortunate +animal to such agony as he must undoubtedly be undergoing. The lioness, +for it was she, passed so quickly that we could not even distinguish her +movements, much less fire. Indeed at night it is absolutely useless to +attempt to shoot unless the object is very close and standing perfectly +still, and then the light is so deceptive and it is so difficult to see +the foresight that the best shot will miss more often than he hits. + +“‘She will be back again presently,’ I said; ‘look out, but for Heaven’s +sake don’t fire unless I tell you to.’ + +“Hardly were the words out of my mouth when back she came, and again +passed the ox without striking him. + +“‘What on earth is she doing?’ whispered Harry. + +“‘Playing with it as a cat does with a mouse, I suppose. She will kill +it presently.’ + +“As I spoke, the lioness once more flashed out of the bush, and this +time sprang right over the doomed and trembling ox. It was a beautiful +sight to see her clear him in the bright moonlight, as though it were a +trick which she had been taught. + +“‘I believe that she has escaped from a circus,’ whispered Harry; ‘it’s +jolly to see her jump.’ + +“I said nothing, but I thought to myself that if it was, Master Harry +did not quite appreciate the performance, and small blame to him. At any +rate, his teeth were chattering a little. + +“Then came a longish pause, and I began to think that the lioness must +have gone away, when suddenly she appeared again, and with one mighty +bound landed right on to the ox, and struck it a frightful blow with her +paw. + +“Down it went, and lay on the ground kicking feebly. She put down her +wicked-looking head, and, with a fierce growl of contentment, buried her +long white teeth in the throat of the dying animal. When she lifted +her muzzle again it was all stained with blood. She stood facing us +obliquely, licking her bloody chops and making a sort of purring noise. + +“‘Now’s our time,’ I whispered, ‘fire when I do.’ + +“I got on to her as well as I could, but Harry, instead of waiting for +me as I told him, fired before I did, and that of course hurried me. +But when the smoke cleared, I was delighted to see that the lioness was +rolling about on the ground behind the body of the ox, which covered her +in such a fashion, however, that we could not shoot again to make an end +of her. + +“‘She’s done for! she’s dead, the yellow devil!’ yelled Pharaoh +in exultation; and at that very moment the lioness, with a sort of +convulsive rush, half-rolled, half-sprang, into the patch of thick bush +to the right. I fired after her as she went, but so far as I could see +without result; indeed the probability is that I missed her clean. At +any rate she got to the bush in safety, and once there, began to make +such a diabolical noise as I never heard before. She would whine and +shriek with pain, and then burst out into perfect volleys of roaring +that shook the whole place. + +“‘Well,’ I said, ‘we must just let her roar; to go into that bush after +her at night would be madness.’ + +“At that moment, to my astonishment and alarm, there came an answering +roar from the direction of the river, and then another from behind +the swell of bush. Evidently there were more lions about. The wounded +lioness redoubled her efforts, with the object, I suppose, of summoning +the others to her assistance. At any rate they came, and quickly too, +for within five minutes, peeping through the bushes of our skerm fence, +we saw a magnificent lion bounding along towards us, through the tall +tambouki grass, that in the moonlight looked for all the world like +ripening corn. On he came in great leaps, and a glorious sight it was to +see him. When within fifty yards or so, he stood still in an open space +and roared. The lioness roared too; then there came a third roar, and +another great black-maned lion stalked majestically up, and joined +number two, till really I began to realize what the ox must have +undergone. + +“‘Now, Harry,’ I whispered, ‘whatever you do don’t fire, it’s too risky. +If they let us be, let them be.’ + +“Well, the pair marched off to the bush, where the wounded lioness +was now roaring double tides, and the three of them began to snarl and +grumble away together there. Presently, however, the lioness ceased +roaring, and the two lions came out again, the black-maned one first--to +prospect, I suppose--walked to where the carcass of the ox lay, and +sniffed at it. + +“‘Oh, what a shot!’ whispered Harry, who was trembling with excitement. + +“‘Yes,’ I said; ‘but don’t fire; they might all of them come for us.’ + +“Harry said nothing, but whether it was from the natural impetuosity of +youth, or because he was thrown off his balance by excitement, or from +sheer recklessness and devilment, I am sure I cannot tell you, never +having been able to get a satisfactory explanation from him; but at +any rate the fact remains, he, without word or warning, entirely +disregarding my exhortations, lifted up his Westley Richards and fired +at the black-maned lion, and, what is more, hit it slightly on the +flank. + +“Next second there was a most awful roar from the injured lion. He +glared around him and roared with pain, for he was badly stung; and +then, before I could make up my mind what to do, the great black-maned +brute, clearly ignorant of the cause of his hurt, sprang right at the +throat of his companion, to whom he evidently attributed his misfortune. +It was a curious sight to see the astonishment of the other lion at this +most unprovoked assault. Over he rolled with an angry snarl, and on to +him sprang the black-maned demon, and began to worry him. This finally +awoke the yellow-maned lion to a sense of the situation, and I am bound +to say that he rose to it in a most effective manner. Somehow or other +he got to his feet, and, roaring and snarling frightfully, closed with +his mighty foe. + +“Then ensued a most tremendous scene. You know what a shocking thing +it is to see two large dogs fighting with abandonment. Well, a whole +hundred of dogs could not have looked half so terrible as those two +great brutes as they rolled and roared and rent in their horrid rage. +They gripped each other, they tore at each other’s throat, till their +manes came out in handfuls, and the red blood streamed down their yellow +hides. It was an awful and a wonderful thing to see the great cats +tearing at each other with all the fierce energy of their savage +strength, and making the night hideous with their heart-shaking noise. +And the fight was a grand one too. For some minutes it was impossible +to say which was getting the best of it, but at last I saw that the +black-maned lion, though he was slightly bigger, was failing. I am +inclined to think that the wound in his flank crippled him. Anyway, +he began to get the worst of it, which served him right, as he was the +aggressor. Still I could not help feeling sorry for him, for he had +fought a gallant fight, when his antagonist finally got him by the +throat, and, struggle and strike out as he would, began to shake the +life out of him. Over and over they rolled together, a hideous and +awe-inspiring spectacle, but the yellow one would not loose his hold, +and at length poor black-mane grew faint, his breath came in great +snorts and seemed to rattle in his nostrils, then he opened his huge +mouth, gave the ghost of a roar, quivered, and was dead. + +“When he was quite sure that the victory was his own, the yellow-maned +lion loosed his grip and sniffed at the fallen foe. Then he licked the +dead lion’s eye, and next, with his fore-feet resting on the carcass, +sent up his own chant of victory, that went rolling and pealing down +the dark paths of the night. And at this point I interfered. Taking a +careful sight at the centre of his body, in order to give the largest +possible margin for error, I fired, and sent a.570 express bullet right +through him, and down he dropped dead upon the carcass of his mighty +foe. + +“After that, fairly satisfied with our performances, we slept peaceably +till dawn, leaving Pharaoh to keep watch in case any more lions should +take it into their heads to come our way. + +“When the sun was well up we arose, and went very cautiously--at least +Pharaoh and I did, for I would not allow Harry to come--to see if we +could find any trace of the wounded lioness. She had ceased roaring +immediately upon the arrival of the two lions, and had not made a sound +since, from which we concluded that she was probably dead. I was armed +with my express, while Pharaoh, in whose hands a rifle was indeed a +dangerous weapon, to his companions, had an axe. On our way we stopped +to look at the two dead lions. They were magnificent animals, both of +them, but their pelts were entirely spoiled by the terrible mauling they +had given to each other, which was a sad pity. + +“In another minute we were following the blood spoor of the wounded +lioness into the bush, where she had taken refuge. This, I need hardly +say, we did with the utmost caution; indeed, I for one did not at +all like the job, and was only consoled by the reflection that it +was necessary, and that the bush was not thick. Well, we stood there, +keeping as far from the trees as possible, searching and looking about, +but no lioness could we see, though we saw plenty of blood. + +“‘She must have gone somewhere to die, Pharaoh,’ I said in Zulu. + +“‘Yes, Inkoos,’ he answered, ‘she has certainly gone away.’ + +“Hardly were the words out of his mouth, when I heard a roar, and +starting round saw the lioness emerge from the very centre of a bush, in +which she had been curled up, just behind Pharaoh. Up she went on to +her hind-legs, and as she did so I noticed that one of her fore-paws was +broken near the shoulder, for it hung limply down. Up she went, towering +right over Pharaoh’s head, as she did so lifting her uninjured paw to +strike him to the earth. And then, before I could get my rifle round or +do anything to avert the oncoming catastrophe, the Zulu did a very brave +and clever thing. Realizing his own imminent danger, he bounded to one +side, and swinging the heavy axe round his head, brought it down right +on to the back of the lioness, severing the vertebræ and killing her +instantaneously. It was wonderful to see her collapse all in a heap like +an empty sack. + +“‘My word, Pharaoh!’ I said, ‘that was well done, and none too soon.’ + +“‘Yes,’ he answered, with a little laugh, ‘it was a good stroke, Inkoos. +Jim-Jim will sleep better now.’ + +“Then, calling Harry to us, we examined the lioness. She was old, if one +might judge from her worn teeth, and not very large, but thickly made, +and must have possessed extraordinary vitality to have lived so long, +shot as she was; for, in addition to her broken shoulder, my express +bullet had blown a great hole in her middle that one might have put a +fist into. + +“Well, that is the story of the death of poor Jim-Jim and how we avenged +it. It is rather interesting in its way, because of the fight between +the two lions, of which I never saw the like in all my experience, and I +know something of lions and their manners.” + +“And how did you get back to Pilgrim’s Rest?” I asked Hunter Quatermain +when he had finished his yarn. + +“Ah, we had a nice job with that,” he answered. “The second sick ox +died, and so did another, and we had to get on as best we could with +three harnessed unicorn fashion, while we pushed behind. We did about +four miles a day, and it took us nearly a month, during the last week of +which we pretty well starved.” + +“I notice,” I said, “that most of your trips ended in disaster of some +sort or another, and yet you went on making them, which strikes one as a +little strange.” + +“Yes, I dare say: but then, remember I got my living for many years out +of hunting. Besides, half the charm of the thing lay in the dangers and +disasters, though they were terrible enough at the time. Another thing +is, my trips were not all disastrous. Some time, if you like, I will +tell you a story of one which was very much the reverse, for I made +several thousand pounds out of it, and saw one of the most extraordinary +sights a hunter ever came across. It was on this trip that I met the +bravest native woman I ever knew; her name was Maiwa. But it is too late +now, and besides, I am tired of talking about myself. Pass the water, +will you!” + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s A Tale of Three Lions, by H. Rider Haggard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TALE OF THREE LIONS *** + +***** This file should be named 2729-0.txt or 2729-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/2729/ + +Produced by John Bickers, Emma Dudding, and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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