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diff --git a/old/3lion10.txt b/old/3lion10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..01150cd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/3lion10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1466 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext A Tale of Three Lions, by H. R. Haggard +#16 in our series by H. Rider Haggard + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz +Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com +and Emma Dudding, emma_302@hotmail.com + + + + + +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 Etext A Tale of Three Lions, by H. R. Haggard + |