hope that they might not still be in the neighbourhood, I went on into the belt of scattered thorns.  For a long while I hunted about without seeing anything, except one duiker buck, which bounded off with a crash from the other side of a stone without giving me a chance.  At length, just as it grew dusk, I spied a Petie buck, a graceful little creature, scarcely bigger than a large hare, standing on a stone, about forty yards from me.  Under ordinary circumstances I should never have dreamed of firing at such a thing, especially with an elephant gun, but we were hungry.  So I sat down with my back against a rock, and aimed steadily at its head.  I did this because if I struck it in the body the three-ounce ball would have knocked it to bits.  At last I pulled the trigger, the gun went off with the report of a small cannon, and the buck disappeared.  I ran to the spot with more anxiety than I should have felt in an ordinary way over a koodoo or an eland.  To my delight there the little creature lay—­the huge bullet had decapitated it.  Considering all the circumstances I do not think I have often made a better shot than this, but if any one doubts, let him try his hand at a rabbit’s head fifty yards away with an elephant gun and a three-ounce ball.

I picked up the Petie in triumph, and returned to the camp.  There we skinned him and toasted his flesh over the fire.  He just made a good meal for us, though we kept the hind legs for breakfast.

There was no moon this night, and so it chanced that when I suddenly remembered about the lion spoor, and suggested that we had better tie up the horses quite close to us, we could not find them, though we knew they were grazing within fifty yards.  This being so we could only make up the fire and take our chance.  Shortly afterwards I went to sleep with little Tota in my arms.  Suddenly I was awakened by hearing that peculiarly painful sound, the scream of a horse, quite close to the fire, which was still burning brightly.  Next second there came a noise of galloping hoofs, and before I could even rise my poor horse appeared in the ring of firelight.  As in a flash of lightning I saw his staring eyes and wide-stretched nostrils, and the broken reim with which he had been knee-haltered, flying in the air.  Also I saw something else, for on his back was a great dark form with glowing eyes, and from the form came a growling sound.  It was a lion.

The horse dashed on.  He galloped right through the fire, for which he had run in his terror, fortunately, however, without treading on us, and vanished into the night.  We heard his hoofs for a hundred yards or more, then there was silence, broken now and again by distant growls.  As may be imagined, we did not sleep any more that night, but waited anxiously till the dawn broke, two hours later.

As soon as there was sufficient light we rose, and, leaving Tota still asleep, crept cautiously in the direction in which the horse had vanished.  When we had gone fifty yards or so, we made out its remains lying on the veldt, and caught sight of two great cat-like forms slinking away in the grey light.